The Cricket World Cup clash between "fierce rivals India and Pakistan" in Adelaide on Feb. 16 sold out in 12 minutes -- "living up to its billing" as one of the hottest tickets in sport. South Australia Deputy Premier John Rau said, "The general tickets were sold out in 12 minutes for the mouth-watering match at the 50,000 plus capacity stadium." Now it is the "turn of the scalpers to zoom in and cash in." Some are offering tickets online for up to $400 -- 20 times the cost of the "cheapest adult admission and you can expect" the 20,000 Indian and "some 10,000 Pakistani fans to snap them up" (TORONTO SUN, 1/8). ... China football coach Alain Perrin "slammed the state of the Suncorp Stadium playing surface after his side's 1-0 Asian Cup Group B win over Saudi Arabia on Saturday night." He called the Suncorp playing surface "very, very, very, very bad." There are fears that the ground will "only get worse over the next week and a half, a period in which Suncorp Stadium will host another six Asian Cup matches." Perrin: "(The) training ground is much better than (the) competition pitch" (COURIER MAIL, 1/10). ... The quality of the Sydney Cricket Ground pitch has been questioned by players Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, "who both described the surface as flat and slow, after the fourth Test finished in a draw." Australia coach Darren Lehmann expressed his "disappointment with the pitch produced 12 months ago after the Sydney Test finished inside three days on a green top." This pitch, "while far from unacceptable, erred on the other side of the spectrum with both captains lamenting its lack of pace" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1/10).
