2011 World Cup tickets go on sale

The first phase of tickets for the 2011 World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been put on sale following a meeting of the tournament's Central Organising Committee in Mumbai. The tickets have been priced affordably, with the cheapest costing 20 cents US in Sri Lanka, the committee said. The tickets are available on the ICC's website from June 1.

"The prices confirm the promise we made that the tickets would be affordable and accessible," Sharad Pawar, the ICC vice president, said. The committee said that in excess of 100,000 tickets were being released for the first phase of online ticket sales. The move to make tickets cheaper comes after the debacle of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, where tickets were expensive and the grounds largely empty as a result.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, was happy with the progress of preparations for the competition. "While there is a lot of important operational detail ahead of us, I am pleased at the progress we have made to date," he said. "For example, in the next few months, safety and security aspects will be dealt with in detail by the security directorate headed by BCCI President Shashank Manohar."