Allocation of Newlands Test tickets leaves bad taste

Even before a ball has been bowled, England’s much-anticipated cricket tour of SA has become embroiled in a controversy which runs the risk of alienating loyal Proteas supporters.

This time the cause is not ball-tampering, match-fixing or dubious umpiring decisions, but the manner in which Cricket South Africa (CSA) bosses have gone about allocating tickets for the Newlands Test in January 2027.

SA supporters reacted angrily after news broke that the majority of tickets for the Test had been allocated to English supporters.

Well-placed insiders said the biggest allocation, a whopping 39% of available tickets, had been set aside for international and domestic travel packages.

Figures show a meagre 13% of tickets will be released to the public and for unreserved seating.

For the Newlands Test, a total of 12% of the stadium’s capacity of 17,544 was allocated to international travel packages and 27% to local ones.

Once details of the lopsided allocation reached the public domain, the CSA public relations office went into overdrive in an effort to smooth things over with their disgruntled supporters.

CSA chief executive Pholetsi Moseki said his body remained committed to ensuring that ticket access was managed fairly, transparently and in a way that balanced supporter demand with the operational requirements.

He said CSA valued the loyal support fans had shown to the Proteas and that communication on the availability of the next batch of general access tickets, priced between R420 and R500 per ticket, would be shared timeously.

CSA advertised the ticket sale for the Cape Town Test as beginning at 9.30am on May 18.

Then, before the sale was supposed to open, it was announced that days one through four had already been sold out.

In a hollow advertisement on their web page, CSA exhorts fans to get their tickets now and witness every boundary, wicket and thrilling moment live in the stadium.

When someone says, “it’s just not cricket”, they mean a particular action, decision, or behaviour is unfair, dishonourable or unacceptable.

It’s a perfect way to describe a ticketing debacle which has left a bad taste in the mouths of ardent Proteas supporters.