Cricket: Ticket sales sluggish for final match

Ticketing offices around the country are being bombarded with demands for tickets this morning.

However, it's not cricket that's on these purchasers' minds.

Tickets for the Rolling Stones' two April concerts go on sale today - and following the debacle of the huge demand for U2 tickets a couple of months ago, organisers are expecting ticket-ordering mayhem to ensue amongst thousands of dedicated fans chasing their precious booty.

The suits at New Zealand Cricket (NZC) wish they were so lucky.

The Black Caps and the West Indies face off in the fifth and final one-day international of their series at Eden Park tomorrow, and demand for tickets is ... well ... a littlle less than "frenzied".

In fact, NZC is trying desperately to 'beat up' interest in the game, in an attempt to ensure a decent crowd at Eden Park tomorrow.

The ground is tipped to be only half full for the match, given the score in the series, the fact the West Indies have been playing so poorly, there is Super 14 to watch and Auckland's new racing Cup Week starts on the same day.

Eden Park officials are biting their fingernails over the crowd size - or lack of it - as ticket sales have been sluggish for the largely meaningless encounter.

Eden Park Trust General Manager Murray Reade says the one-sided nature of the series has undoubtedly had an effect on sales, as well as the move to sell only lite alcohol to the thirsty masses on the terraces.

Nonetheless, he is still hoping for a reasonable crowd.

He believes that if the weather is good they may get a decent walk up crowd, which could bump up the number to close to 20 thousand. That figure is down around five thousand on the crowds they normally expect at Eden Park.

Black Caps coach John Bracewell believes the fans should turn up because his team has played some good, entertaining and winning cricket, with plenty of sixes, and fans will also see the pace of Shane Bond and other good cricketers on display.

As for the test matches, West Indies superstar Brian Lara is due to land in the country today, although team officials and media thought he was arriving yesterday.

They went out to Auckland Airport, but Brian was nowhere to be seen.

Bracewell says Lara's inclusion in the test team and a few other factors should mean a decent series, given the test outfit should mentally have more confidence, given their last outings in Australia.

Bracewell had no comment to make at this stage on the great debate of who is going to open for the Black Caps.

- NEWSTALK ZB, HERALD ONLINE STAFF