Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 authorities, are making a plea to cricket fans world wide to purchase their tickets for next year's tournament through authentic sources. These sources include CWC Official Travel Agents, Official Hospitality Agents or via the Public Ticketing programmed.

This action came as a result of tickets being offered for sale on the auction website ebay as well as on unauthorised websites, such as www.worldticketshop.com and www.globalticketservice.com. Commercial Manager for CWC 2007, Stephen Price said, "the action is being taken "to protect the integrity of the Event and its pricing structure and policy for Ticketing, which was designed to be as fair as possible and to afford everyone who wishes to attend a match the chance to get a ticket".

The resulting action by ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc. means that all these tickets will be made null and void and are essentially worthless for admission to the intended matches. This action is design to send a strong message to persons who are engaging in black-market activity – either by selling or purchasing such tickets – which can be very damaging to any international event by creating the perception of price gouging.

Cricket World Cup 2007 senior legal counsel Derek Jones stated that since late August - when ticket applicants started receiving notification of which matches they had been allocated tickets for - there had been an increasing number of tickets and packages being offered for sale by unauthorised websites.

"CWC has a legal obligation to protect the tournament’s integrity and this is a firm indication that the organisation will use the appropriate measures to do so," Jones said. Jones further stated that tickets being used commercially, without authorisation from CWC 2007 Inc., for example as prizes in a competition or promotion or as part of an unofficial travel and/or hospitality package, can be made null and void as well. Therefore, anyone who buys or wins them would not be allowed entrance to a match venue.

Every ticket for ICC CWC 2007 matches, senior legal counsel Jones stressed, is sold subject to the Ticket Terms & Conditions and each purchaser agrees to abide by them at the point of purchase. "The ICC CWC 2007 Ticket Terms & Conditions expressly prohibit: the unauthorised resale or transfer of tickets; purchase from unauthorised agents and the unauthorised commercial use of tickets," Jones said.