As one season ends...

Have been away on a stag weekend on the Norfolk Broads, so the blog has lain neglected while I have been drinking Guinness, pointing at windmills and trying to avoid hitting swans and other boats. Back at the desk now and saw this post by Will on The Corridor blog about Durham already selling tickets for next summer's internationals. In fact, tickets for the ODI against New Zealand and the Twenty20 with South Africa in just eight and ten months' time went on sale just over an hour ago.

I agree with Will: this is wrong, all wrong. Let us savour the last season for a few months before thinking ahead to next summer. This sort of action seems biased against people like me who are incapable of being organised more than a month ahead of time. It's bad enough that Lord's wants ticket applications before Christmas (which is why I get tickets from friends who are MCC members in April instead), but selling tickets for matches in October before the winter Test tour has even begun? Crazy talk.

Comments

[Stuart George]

Yes, it does feel a little strange filling in ticket application forms for next years's internationals while sat next to a radiator...Over the last couple of weeks both MCC and Surrey have sent me forms.

There is a very interesting article on ticket pricing and availability in the new issue of The Wisden Cricketer. It points out that there is probably a gap in any given Test Match crowd between the under-16s that get in cheap/free and the over-30s corporate types that can afford £50 for a day at the cricket. Where are the 20-somethings? And West Indian supporters have virtually vanished over the last few years. It's simply not in their (and other people's) nature to book so far in advance.

Having to book a year in advance and pay £50+ for a day at the cricket does seem a little unreasonable sometimes, but it compares well to football prices!