More than 2.5 million ticket applications have been recorded for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales over two ballot periods.
England will open the tournament, which will be held from May 30 to July 14 next year, at The Oval when they take on South Africa, while Australia will launch their title defence on June 1 against the Cricket World Cup Qualifier champions Afghanistan in a day/night match in Bristol.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 managing director Steve Elworthy said: “The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 will be the biggest sporting event taking place in England and Wales next summer and the demand for tickets reflects the excitement of the public here and all the fans around the world. We’d urge any fan interested in still attending to not miss out in the general sale as most matches will then be sold out.”
The high demand for tickets during the Public Ballot resulted in over 1.6 million applications for tickets and took the total number of tickets applied for at the tournament to over 2.5 million across the two ballots.
Tickets were bought across 148 different countries, with matches involving hosts England and top-ranked teams have been highly sought after. Sales across all 11 venues to watch the ten competing teams has been high. 
India v Pakistan remains the most popular fixture with enough ticket applications to fill Wembley Stadium several times over, alongside key matches such as England v Australia and the Final at Lord’s – all of which are heavily oversubscribed at all price bands.
Elsworthy added: “We have developed a pricing structure to drive accessibility with U16 tickets from just £6 and adults from as little as £16 as we wanted to make this world-class sporting event experience open to as many fans as possible. The demand for tickets serves to demonstrate the success of this strategy and help us grow the long-term fan base of the game.
“There will be tickets available in General Sale period for at least one game featuring each competing team as well as at least one game at every venue resulting in some really great tickets remaining. We want to ensure that we welcome as many fans as possible to be part of this once-in-a-lifetime tournament.”
There will be around 50,000 tickets available during the General Sale period, while fans who can no longer attend matches will be able to put their tickets on the Official Resale Platform through the CWC19 ticketing website later in the year.
Image: ICC