Ticket or no ticket, Barmy Army to head for Down Under, says found

London, June 18 (UNI) They may not have adequate tickets for this year's Ashes but that won't deter an upbeat ''Barmy Army'' from reaching Down Under, announced its founder Paul Burnham.

There has been unprecedented demand for the Ashes tickets and though 103,000 tickets go on sale from tomorrow, Mr Burnham is not sure how many would land in English hands.

''People will head over to Australia anyway - with the big stadia they have they will fancy their chances of getting in.

''And you're watching in the same time zone with the sun on your back,'' he told BBC.

As per the Cricket Australia policy, Australian fans have been allowed to buy tickets since the beginning of this month while they would vie with the England fans tomorrow when the tickets are made available in Adelaide, Perth and Sydney.

Tickets for Brisbane go on sale from Tuesday and Melbourne from Wednesday.

''We had between 25-40,000 there last time when England were getting thrashed but, with the success they had winning the Ashes last year, demand has gone up. A lot of England fans have been planning this trip for three to four years. People have planned holidays and are upset,'' Mr Burnham said.

''Cricket Australia are spinning a line that the Barmy Army have managed to pick up a lot more tickets than we have because Australian fans are not going to get in in the numbers they normally do. In reality we know corporates and sponsors are picking up tickets by the hatful,'' he said.

''There are a lot of Australians who are trying to pass tickets on to English fans. English people have got hold of tickets from Australian friends and Australians are going on the internet trying to sell them at extortionate prices.

''We're advising people to register their interest on the Barmy Army forum and there's a website called stoptouts.com where we're going to try to co-ordinate face-value tickets,'' he added.

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