New Zealand fans have hit out at the arrogance of England's cricket chiefs after prices for a one-day international during New Zealand's upcoming tour crossed the £100 ($255) barrier.
Surrey County Cricket Club has set pricing records for the ODI they will host on June 25 against theBlack Caps. Most tickets for the match will be around £60 ($154) but the better general public seats are listed at £103 ($265). London-based Kiwi Mike Lane, who is organising tickets and trips for New Zealanders who want to follow the tour, says this three-figure score is no reason to raise the bat.
"We're getting used to paying exorbitant amounts for sporting events over here," Lane said. "They can get away with it because of consumer demand. The Oval can take about 20,000 people but it's in the middle of a city of eight million so they can do what they want and they do.
"It's a real pain in the a*** really. They're a bunch of [expletive]."
Lane runs the London wing of "global empire" Beige Brigade and is taking Kiwi fans to the Manchester and Nottingham tests, as well as a trip to Bristol for the fourth ODI.
The prices are a lot more competitive outside of London.
Lane said Kiwis in London might think the prices were steep but wouldn't necessarily baulk at them because they were used to doing everything on the pound.
"The ones it hurts are those travelling from New Zealand," he said. "It's a bit of a sting in the tail when you have to pay $250 for a day at the cricket when it's most likely going to rain.
"When you're travelling on the 'Pacific peso', it hurts."
Surrey's marketing director was unrepentant when he talked to the Wisden Cricketer about the prices.
"We haven't had negative feedback," Paul Blanchard said. "We had around 40,000 failed applicants and we sold out quicker than in any of the previous two years. There is no sign that people are saying it is too expensive... in fact, demand is increasing."
Blanchard might be surprised to learn that the feedback to the original story was, in fact, exclusively negative.
