Cricket fans across the globe have started receiving their World Cup match tickets and more will have them in hand by next week, including those in Bermuda.

Thousands of packages containing tickets, bought in Phases One and Two in the Public Ticketing programme, are now en route to households worldwide as fans from more than a hundred countries prepare to descend on the Caribbean for the ninth edition of international cricket’s most prominent tournament.

While customers in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bangladesh, China, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago await the arrival of their tickets — possibly by today — which were couriered from the USA yesterday, some fans in Jamaica already have theirs.

“Jamaica’s close proximity to the USA makes it a destination which couriers can reach very quickly, so it’s not surprising that packages have been received here in one day,” noted ICC 2007 Project Officer—Ticketing, Delroy Taylor.

Shipments sent out yesterday, including to the UK — the country with the most ticket purchasers — are slated for arrival next Monday or Tuesday.

Meanwhile, today will see tickets being sent to a number of other countries, including Anguilla, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, the Netherlands and the USA.

Tickets will also be shipped to all official Ticket Centres in the nine host venues today and should be ready for distribution by next Thursday.

If they are available for collection earlier in the week, customers will be notified.

Tickets acquired as part of either Tour and Travel or Hospitality packages will be distributed via Cricket Logistics and Cricket Hospitality 2007 respectively.

“This is what a lot of fans have been waiting for — to get their tickets in hand. CWC has been inundated with queries about when they would be available and we are pleased to announce that they are here,” said Taylor.

CWC, he said, was “very excited” about the tickets which are printed on “eye-catching souvenir stock which some fans will definitely want to keep as a memento”.

“There are a number of security features on each ticket and, depending on what type of match ticket it is, it has a particular CWC sub-graphic which reflects an aspect of Caribbean life,” disclosed Taylor.

Tickets for warm-up and group stage matches are blue and sport the marine life sub-graphic while Super 8 tickets feature a green design which depicts the tropical fauna of the region.

A bright yellow sub-graphic entitled “rhythm and dance” has been used for semi-final tickets and the “metallic silver” version of the same sub-graphic has been chosen for the coveted tickets to the final.

“These tickets are the quality of those you’d get for an international sporting event such as the Olympics and I think fans who ordered in the first two phases are going to really enjoy these souvenir tickets,” added Taylor.