ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is providing incentives to early-bird ticket holders for the upcoming One-Day International (ODI) home series against England.

The WICB’s corporate communications manager, Imran Khan, told the Antigua Observer that cricket fans who purchase tickets on or before December 24 will get two for the price of one. He said that tickets would go on sale in three weeks with unreserved going for EC$40 (US$14) and reserved costing EC$55 (US$20).

“As soon as ticket sales start, we will be selling tickets two for one so the $40 is actually going to get you two tickets because you will buy one and you will get one free and that will last up until Christmas Eve,” he said.

“I want to emphasise that the promotion, when it starts, will last only up until Christmas Eve. It’s our way of giving back to the Antiguan public for supporting cricket in some very difficult times in the past and we believe that $40 is a very reasonable price especially compared to what you have to pay around the world to watch one day cricket these days. But on top of that, we want to offer this additional special as a giving back to the Antigua public for Christmas.”

Antigua will host the ODI series on February 28, March 2 and 5, which will coincide with the 40th anniversary of the island’s first international cricketer, Andy Roberts, and also mark the setting of two cricket landmarks by former West Indies captain, Brian Lara.

“We’ve had several meetings with the stadium authorities and as you know, we have had meetings from very early with the government with regards to the hosting of the one-day matches,” he said.

“We just had a meeting this week with the ABCA (Antigua & Barbuda Cricket Association) and plans are in place. At this stage, there are no major concerns with some of the seating having been removed from the Sir Vivian Richards stadium and some of the other seating that’s still in place has deteriorated but we have gotten all assurances that those will be replaced.

“There is still some amount of time between now and the matches with the first match being on February 28. So there are three full months and those seats have been sourced and they should be in place well in advance of the first day’s play,” said Khan.

England will conclude their tour of the Caribbean with three Twenty20 matches on March 9, 11 and 13 at Kensington Oval in Barbados.