proebayer

eBay hopes to secure the official sponsorship rights as well, which are now for sale on its own auction site, having been bought by a consortium of British scalpers. Also available for sale are detailed pitch reports for the match, offered by a seller called "sexy4u23".

Reacting to angry cricket fans, John Howard has assured voters that he is "following this issue very closely", and that he could understand the frustration of fans. "The auction I'm watching has already gone up to $250, so it looks like I'll have to buy one off Tony Blair" said the Prime Minister.

Scalpers have been able to easily abuse Cricket Australia's "Australian Cricket Family" system. "The English are not normally a race associated with scalping, so we're surprised this has happened," said CA executive Peter Young. "According to the submission questionnaire, not a single person we have tickets to answer ‘yes' to the question ‘are you a scalper?' Somehow they slipped through the net."

Private investigators believe Barmy Army members may have employed disguises, with ticketing agencies reporting marked increases in sales to bearded women and Richie Benaud. Cricket Australia admits it has been unable to prevent spots intended for Australians going to the English, and is at a loss to explain how four British lager louts wound up in the Australian Test side. "The one positive is that they're all less boring players than Damian Martyn," said Young.

Pundits say that the English could easily retain the trophy, as the side still has the highest bid with two minutes to go.

http://www.chaser.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3174&Itemid=26