In all, 300 000 tickets - 35% of total capacity - will be made available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Already, 20 million rands (GBP1.3 million) worth of tickets have been sold.

The figure is largely made up of season ticket holders and debenture holders from South Africa's leading cricket clubs, who have pocketed 360 000 of the total 856 000 tickets on offer.

An undisclosed amount of tickets have been sold direct to travel agents.

The World Cup's executive director, Dr Ali Bacher said: "Part of our commitment is to promote tourism to our country - something that is vital to enhance our economy, uplift our people and create jobs.

"In this light we have acceded where possible to requests for tickets by our international tour operator and appointed travel agents."

An additional 50 000 tickets will be distributed to South African cricketers living in disadvantaged communities.

World Cup spokesman Rodney Hartman said ticket-touting would not be tolerated.

SECURITY
He told BBC Sport Online: "It's quite high on the priority list. Touting is going to be strongly policed. Security is one of the highest priorities of all at this World Cup."

In June, Lord Condon of cricket's anti-corruption unit announced that anyone with illegal betting links would be banned from attending.

Meanwhile, according to the Press Trust of India, the ANC Youth League has threatened to wreck next year's cricket World Cup in South Africa if sufficient black African players are not included in the national team.