NZ cricket fans snap up World Cup tickets

Brendon McCullum's Black Caps have captured the imagination of cricket fans with their recent form. Photo / NZME.

"Match sold out" signs are expected to be up for all bar one of New Zealand's six World Cup pool games by the end of next week.

Ticket sales have been impressive for the games against Sri Lanka, Scotland, England, Australia and Bangladesh.

The only match which will have tickets available will be against qualifying nation Afghanistan in Napier on March 8.

"The key for us is ticket sales and how public momentum is going in terms of getting towards the Cricket World Cup," the head of the New Zealand organising committee, Therese Walsh, said yesterday.

"We've been helped by the Black Caps playing well and a few rock stars starting to emerge."

What particularly pleases Walsh is the sales as related to the usual buying philosophy for New Zealand fans.

"If you consider [it] in the context of normal cricket in New Zealand, this has totally smacked it out of the park," she said.

"We Kiwis are a kind of wait-and-see crew. We tend to buy on the day or week of a game. Some of these games are two months away, so it's pretty amazing."

Sales for the quarter-final in Wellington on March 21 are progressing well, but Walsh would like to see an upswing, with New Zealand likely to feature in the game at Westpac Stadium. However, sales for the semifinal at Eden Park three days later "are going gangbusters", she said.

NZ's World Cup schedule

Feb 14: v Sri Lanka, Christchurch
Feb 17: v Scotland, Dunedin
Feb 20: v England, Wellington
Feb 28: v Australia, Auckland
March 8: v Afghanistan, Napier
March 13: v Bangladesh, Hamilton.