The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Public Ballot opened today
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Public Ballot opened today (Wednesday, 1 August) at 10am (BST) on Wednesday 1 August, when ticket applications were opened to all members of the public, backed by a major marketing and PR campaign, welcomingly called Are you in?
The Public Ballot will be open until 29 August and fans will be able to apply for each of the 48 fixtures, including the marquee games at Edgbaston, with tickets in each price band at every game available.
For Edgbaston to host five of the biggest games is fantastic for Birmingham and we look forward to working with Birmingham City Council and our city partners to give a very warm welcome to the thousands of visiting fans.
Neil Snowball
Following the unprecedented demand during the Cricket Family Ballot, fans are encouraged to apply for a wide selection of matches as the 10-team round robin stage provides plenty of opportunities for fans to see their favourite team.
“The demand for Birmingham’s ICC Cricket World Cup games has been phenomenal,” said Edgbaston Chief Executive Neil Snowball. “Members snapped up their allocations within a matter of hours and there was a huge demand in the initial cricket family ballot.
“Obviously, with the initial demand for tickets, some supporters will have been disappointed. But this next stage of sales with the public ballot give these fans another chance to secure tickets at one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
“For Edgbaston to host five of the biggest games is fantastic for Birmingham and we look forward to working with Birmingham City Council and our city partners to give a very warm welcome to the thousands of visiting fans.”
Councillor Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “The Cricket World Cup is going to be a fantastic celebration of a sport that appeals to so many people, across all ages and backgrounds. And with Birmingham’s history of putting on world-class sporting events it is only right that Edgbaston will be one of the venues, hosting five matches including a semi-final. This is a great chance for people to be a part of one of the most-watched global sporting events so I’d urge people not to miss out.”
The campaign’s launch film stars Freddie Flintoff, a cricketer who transcends popular culture, singing and dancing to the sound of Imagine Dragon’s On top of the world, inviting the public to join sports greatest carnival. It continues the marketing approach of putting fans, influencers and celebrities at the heart of the creative, reaching both inside and outside of the game to engage new fans with cricket.
To apply for tickets in the Public Ballot, applicants must register an account via the official Cricket World Cup Ticketing website. The pre-registration phase started on 17 July.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Managing Director Steve Elworthy highlighted the importance of this milestone in the application process, and hopes it has the same success as the recent Cricket Family Ballot.
‘‘1 August is a day we’ve all been looking forward to as we welcome many potential future cricket fans to the sport. This a great chance for anybody who wants to attend the ICC Cricket World Cup and watch the most exciting and competitive cricket available, as the best teams in the world go head to head.
‘’Being the third most-watched global sporting event, we know there will be huge interest in next year’s World Cup. The Cricket Family Ballot was a recent indicator to how popular we expect this tournament to be, when over one million tickets were applied for.
‘’What’s more, with our price structure for this tournament, which we consulted on widely and used external experts, all games will be accessible for a large proportion of sports fans. Any revenue that we do make from the tournament will be invested back in the game as part of our commitment to grow cricket and engage with future generations.’’
Host nation England will open the tournament at The Oval on 30 May when they take on South Africa, while reigning champions Australia start their title defence on 1 June against Afghanistan in a day/night match in Bristol. The World Cup will conclude when the final takes place at Lord’s on Sunday 14 July.
Any remaining tickets from the Public Ballot will go on general sale on a first-come, first-served basis later in 2018.
