Australia v South Africa: Fans being ripped off by expensive tickets despite lack of star names IT IS the great cricket rip-off. Fans are being slugged up to $132 for general admission tickets to watch a dud start to a summer with few big names or star power. As T20 magic men Dave Warner, Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith and the world's best fast bowler Mitchell Johnson sat in their loungerooms, undermanned Australia were walloped by an equally uninspiring South African T20 side in Adelaide on Wednesday. Fans voted with their feet and the Adelaide Oval was only about half full with 26,370 fans. Cricket's scheduling boffins have lost the plot with Australia starting another international series only a few days after finishing in the scorching desert of the United Arab Emirates. With Aussie stars on the sidelines, few should be surprised the three-match T20 series against South Africa is as flat as a tack. What makes it an even more bitter pill to swallow is Melbourne fans will have to fork out as much as $132 for platinum seats in a general admission area to watch the second T20 on Friday night. While Maxwell will be back, Warner - the one swashbuckling Aussie T20 star who can put bums on seats - again will be nowhere to be seen. Then it's on to Sydney for Sunday's game at Stadium Australia where platinum general tickets will leave a $117 hole in the pockets of fans. By contrast, tickets to see one of the world's best rock bands, the Foo Fighters, in concert in Brisbane next year are going for $97 to $199. The return of Pat Cummins to Australian colours was one of the highlights for fans. The cheapest tickets for the Melbourne and Sydney T20 games are $35 and $30 respectively but even that seems a stretch given this series is a battle of the B-graders. South Africa played without a host of big names in Adelaide, including regular T20 captain Faf du Plessis as well as Test and one-day captains Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers. Cricket Australia has pointed to a TV viewing audience of 1.24 million from the first T20 as evidence the cricket summer has started with a bang. "In terms of ticket prices, the majority of tickets to the MCG game will be around the $30-$35 mark,"" a CA spokesman said. "All full-paying adults can also take kids in for free."" However one confused cricket-watching colleague has become so bewildered by the revolving door of Australia T20 players that he thought South African bowler Wayne Parnell was an Aussie. Cricket is giving football's A-League a free hit. The 10th season of the national soccer competition has started well, with clever scheduling of Melbourne and Sydney derbys in the opening month of the campaign. Both games attracted crowds of more than 40,000. Football even invaded the spiritual home of South Australian cricket, the Adelaide Oval, with more than 33,000 fans watching the game between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory.