The remaining ticket packages for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 will now be available on a first-come-first-served basis on all three booking channels.

The original restrictions of 60% of packages at the venues, 20% at the call centre and 20% on the internet have now been dropped in order to give the public an equal opportunity of buying the 90 000 packages that still remain.

Dr Ali Bacher, Executive Director, announced this afternoon that the change in booking process would also give people abroad an even chance of obtaining tickets.

The only exception to the rule are tickets for the disabled. These can be booked at the venues only.

Of the bigger venues, 436 stadium packages are still available for St George's Park in Port Elizabeth and 200 at SuperSport Park in Centurion. There is good availability of packages at Bloemfontein, Benoni, East London, Kimberley, Potchefstroom, Pietermaritzburg and Paarl.

The full allocation of packages for the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, Kingsmead in Durban and Newlands in Cape Town have been sold out.

As of 17h00 today (Wednesday), the third day of booking, 143 609 tickets of the original allocation of 233 000 had been sold. Total takings at this stage stand at over R18,7 million.

Of the 7476 tickets sold so far today, 3547 were booked via the website, 3135 at the venues and 794 on the call centre.

For the second straight day, ticket bookings went smoothly. No congestion was reported on the website.

Booking on the call centre on 083 123 2003 runs between 7am and 7pm seven days a week. The website is www.cricketworldcup.com

© United Cricket Board of South Africa