Barmy Army predicts Ashes ticket rush despite weaknesss of the pound

Gloomy economic conditions may have popularised the domestic "staycation", but England cricket supporters now have the chance to show their wanderlust runs a little deeper. Tickets for the winter Ashes series in Australia go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, having been made available last week to Cricket Australia's domestic membership. According to Paul Burnham, a spokesman for the Barmy Army, the numbers travelling from the UK are unlikely to dip much compared with the last away Ashes series four years ago. "I absolutely think demand will be at the same high level," he said. "Going to watch England in Australia is still so many people's dream. Plus, there is a real sense of people feeling let down and excluded by profiteering at the football World Cup in South Africa. Quite a few people had said they would only be going to the World Cup if England reached the semi-finals. If not they were saving it up for the Ashes." So far demand in Australia has been steady, if not at the spectacular levels seen ahead of England's last tour. More than 60,000 seats have been sold for the opening Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide, with almost 25,000 tickets for Brisbane, the first Test starting on 25 November, sold in the first half hour. Four years ago online ticket systems crashed under torrential demand to witness a series that would see Australia wrest back the Ashes after England's thrilling 2005 victory. In the event a record 930,000 supporters saw Australia, with the retiring Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne in their ranks, complete their first 5-0 series whitewash in 86 years. If the Barmy Army is bullish, hopes in Australia of something similar are more muted. "We're not expecting the same extraordinary numbers," a Cricket Australia spokesman said. "Certainly through Cricket Australia travel we're expecting a lot. But a lot of Barmy Army people are white collar and they have been knocked around by the global financial crisis." There was at least some state-of-the-art etiquette advice for those who make the trip: "Bring sunscreen, shout your heads off, get into the spirit of the game, but bear in mind that vuvuzelas are banned." Scourge of many in South Africa, where most matches were accompanied by its blare from the stands, the vuvuzela has already become a predictable pre-Ashes hot potato. Burnham, however, was quick to deny reports that the Barmy Army has banned the plastic trumpets. "We don't tell people how to enjoy their day. We just think there's not really much place for them in cricket given that we've had to apply for a licence just for our own trumpeter, Bill Cooper, who is a music teacher, to play his trumpet. "People have said you can play a tune on the vuvuzela, but I've yet to hear one." Rather than the vuvuzela, it is the weakness of the pound that troubles the Barmy Army hierarchy most: "One of the main songs we sing is: 'We're fat, we're round, three dollars to the pound.' We can't really sing that one any more."