First day sales show Ashes are cricket's hottest ticket

MELBOURNE, Jun 1 (Reuters) Record-breaking public interest in the Ashes was confirmed today when Cricket Australia reported an unprecedented level of demand as the first tickets for the 2006/07 series went on sale.

Chief executive James Sutherland said more than 161,000 tickets had been sold to members of the Australian Cricket Family (ACF) organisation in the first six hours on sale, equating to 10 tickets sold every second.

''To say it's been a busy day today is a huge understatement,'' Sutherland told reporters.

With around 30,000 England fans expected to travel to Australia to watch their team try and retain the Ashes, the 128,500 members of the ACF were given first bite at the tickets for the five Test matches.

England play five test matches, starting in Brisbane on November 23, followed by a Twenty20 international in Sydney before the triangular one-day series with Australia and New Zealand.

REUTERS PM VC1305