Wednesday, December 06, 2006

The Don of Mayfair

A cricket-loving foundation has brought out an Ashes Monopoly set - and like the current series, the game has been taken over by Australians.
The 10,000 limited edition set puts Sir Don Bradman alongside 'Mayfair' which will also feature LBWs, being caught behind, Test cards and other famous players like the Chappell brothers, Mark Taylor and Allan Border. Shane Warne is 'Oxford Street' while fellow spinner Stuart MacGill replaces the cheap rent of 'Old Kent Road'. Is there a get-out-of-jail-free card for England I wonder?
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The Rugby World Cup Final in 2003 between England and Australia was a much sought after ticket, but on the day of the game why were there touts of scouse nature still left with hundreds of tickets?
Well, it's like this: as soon as big events such as that Final and the Ashes go on sale, tickets get snapped up in no time. When it comes to the day of the event, people who didn't want to go in the first place virtually give away their tickets, leaving the touts who want a mark-up with whole batches (this was the case at Brisbane and Adelaide). Cricket Australia (CA) said the first four days were sold out at the Adelaide Oval but anyone wanting to come down to enjoy the cricket, did so knowing they wouldn't be breaking the bank at the same time. Late nights logging on to CA's site to buy Ashes tickets all those months ago? What was all the fuss about?