Tickets for the 2006-07 Ashes series were snapped up at a rate of more than seven every second on Thursday as Cricket Australia reported an unprecedented level of demand.
Chief executive James Sutherland said more than 1,61,000 tickets had been sold to members of the Australian Cricket Family (ACF) organisation in the first six hours on sale.
"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 1,28,500 members of the ACF were given first bite at the tickets for the five Test matches.
Tickets for the first four days of the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground were sold out, while there were also no more tickets available to ACF members for the first two days of the second Test in Adelaide.
Ticket agencies struggled to cope as hopeful customers reported long, fruitless waits on the telephone and jammed internet sites.
EXTRAORDINARY DEMAND
"It's an extraordinary level of demand. To sell 10 tickets a second is a huge workload for any system. The ticketing agencies have been working full throttle and there are bound to be problems.
"This 1,60,000 tickets is a reflection of the public passion and level of anticipation for this Ashes series and what we've seen today is an extraordinary response from the Australian Cricket Family," Sutherland added
ACF members have until June 19 to purchase more than 480,000 remaining tickets for Test, one-day and Twenty20 matches over the Australian summer before the remainder go on general sale to the public.
"It doesn't compare [to any previous series]. There is just no comparison to what we've seen today," Sutherland said. "It would have taken us many weeks to sell that many tickets in previous years."
Sutherland said Cricket Australia had taken all reasonable steps to prevent touts prospering, with all tickets discovered to have been sold on immediately becoming invalid.
"I guess when you've got a hot ticket what is inevitable is that some people choose to pass those on, but the reality is the terms and conditions on our tickets mean you can't. It's not permissible.
AT RISK
"People do need to understand if you do purchase a ticket [from unauthorised sources] then you are at risk of the ticket being cancelled and losing your money."
More than 18,000 tickets had been sold for the first day of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground alone with another 24,000 available to ACF members.
Organisers are hopeful of beating the world attendance record for a single day of a Test, eclipsing the 90,800 set at the MCG during the 1960-61 series against West Indies "It will be around 95-96,000," said Cricket Victoria chief executive Ken Jacobs. "We believe a record crowd on Boxing Day is a possibility."
Over 25,000 tickets had been sold for the opening Test in Brisbane but just 13,000 for the third Test in Perth, Cricket Australia said. There were still tickets available for 41 days of international cricket.
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.
