Despite the ICC's best efforts, these occasions are still a magnet for touts and scammers

SAM MORSHEAD AT LORD'S: Tickets for the World Cup final are being listed for as much as £16,584.80 on third-party sites, and a Stoke-on-Trent fan tells The Cricketer how he was conned out of £390

How much would you pay for the most sought-after seat at an England cricket match for a generation?

Twenty-four hours before the World Cup final, despite repeated warnings by the ICC regarding the validity of tickets purchased via third-party websites, touts are still quoting extortionate sums for right of entry to Lord’s. 

On Viagogo, prices start at £714 for a bronze level seat and top out at £4,661 for platinum, representing mark-ups of more than 700 per cent. On StubHub, two tickets to the upper tier of the Compton Stand are being listed at an eye-watering £16,584.80.

The ICC insist that tickets purchased through touts or third-party resale sites are highly likely to be invalid at the gate - those attempting to sell for profit in this way are contacted by the governing body and given a formal warning, with their tickets subsequently being cancelled if they are not delisted -  but that has not stopped hundreds of ticket-holders trying.

“It is very disappointing to see tickets on secondary ticketing websites selling at vastly inflated prices,” World Cup managing director Steve Elworthy said earlier this week, as the ICC once again addressed the scourge of touting.

^{Fans at the Australia-England semi-final}

“We are doing our utmost to limit the secondary ticket market, however, a lack of legislation in the UK means we are restricted in the preventative action we can take to stop fans being ripped off and forced to pay over the odds.”

The little legislation that does exist to help cricket’s authorities insists on the seller identifying the exact location of the seats being resold. That information allows organisers to establish who is profiteering from the event, and gives them some chance of cancelling accounts and relisting tickets. 

The governing body says it has been doing just that, though it could not confirm the exact number of accounts whose tickets for the final have been voided.

In other corners of the internet, though, the ICC is powerless to stop scam artists making money off fans’ desire to be part of the moment.

Daniel Reed, a 28-year-old telesales executive from Stoke-on-Trent, is one such example.

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Reed applied for tickets to six matches in the ICC’s official pre-tournament ballot and was unsuccessful on all six counts. At the start of the week, he began hunting out tickets for the final, desperate to be part of “a once in a lifetime opportunity”.

On a Facebook page, he stumbled across an account using the name ‘Justin Yang’ who was offering two silver tickets, at face value, for Sunday’s game.

Having been offered £695 and £300 per ticket on other sites, Reed was coaxed by ‘Yang’ into parting with £390 for the pair on Tuesday.

Forty-eight hours of diversionary messages followed. Reed was told by the ‘vendor’ that he would be sent ticket information via email on Wednesday. When that information failed to arrive, Reed was told there had been a delay.

^{Supporters identifying as India fans have bought 41 per cent of tickets for the final}

He was assured that the ‘vendor’ was at a post office sending the tickets via recorded delivery, and that he would be provided with a tracking number. That tracking number never arrived.

On Friday, when the physical tickets were still not forthcoming, he messaged again and was told they would now be sent over email.

“At that point, I realised I’d been scammed,” Reeds said. “He’s ignored all my calls and all my messages (since).

“It was all about the emotion. Once he said he didn’t take PayPal, I should have walked away, but the whole emotion of wanting to watch England in a World Cup final at Lord’s took over.

“I was a bit of a fool really, just a bit of a mug.”

Reed, who has been told by his bank that he is unlikely to recover the money and plans to report the incident to the police, has told his story on the Facebook page where he first came into contact with the scammer, and has received several messages of thanks from other potential victims.

He told The Cricketer his story because he does not want others to fall into the same trap.

“I saved a few people a bit of money, which is probably the best thing that has happened out of this,” he said.

Touting is an issue which does not only occupy conversations at administrative and media levels.

On Friday, the New Zealand allrounder Jimmy Neesham made a plea on Twitter to those who are looking to make money from their tickets.

“Dear India fans. If you don’t want to come to the final anymore then please be kind and resell your tickets via the official platform,” he wrote.

“I know it’s tempting to try to make a large profit but please give all genuine cricket fans a chance to go, not just the wealthy.”

The ICC, however, remain confident that Lord’s will be full on Sunday - as well it ought, given there were 415,000 applications for final tickets in the ballot. They also believe the atmosphere will not suffer from the large number of seats occupied by those who identified themselves as India supporters.

Sources at World Cup HQ are of the impression these fans will happily turn out in support of the host nation. 

^{Some prices on Stub Hub are eye-watering}

Around 86 per cent of tickets for the World Cup final were purchased by UK residents and, while 41 per cent ticked the box marked India, switching allegiance to the country they call home comes naturally. 

When India were knocked out of the competition by New Zealand, 200 tickets were made available on the official resale platform. When England confirmed their progress the following day, however, 150 of those were withdrawn.

Compare that to the 2,000 tickets for the Australia-England semi-final at Edgbaston which were resold after India topped the round-robin table, securing a last-four trip to Old Trafford instead. 

The ICC are also keen to point to the fact that only a small number of seats went unfilled at Edgbaston on Thursday, despite concerns that wealthy India supporters would not turn up. 

They recognise that the touting virus that infects all occasions of this magnitude still needs a vaccine, for now, their best hope is appealing to people’s good nature.

Unfortunately, for some, that is just never going to work.

Our coverage of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 is brought to you in association with Cricket 19, the official video game of the Ashes. Order your copy now at Amazon.co.uk