MELBOURNE, Australia, 10 January 2005 — World cricket’s elite gather here today to raise an estimated A$10 million (US$7.5 million) for the Asian tsunami disaster.
The Rest of the World, led by Ricky Ponting, will take on the Saurav Ganguly-skippered Asia in a One-Day International charity match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as world cricket’s response to the shattering events on Indian Ocean shorelines a fortnight ago.
A sellout crowd of about 78,000 and millions of viewers will watch the special match, thrown together at short notice.
Not since Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in the late 1970s has there been a more star-studded gathering of cricket talent in Australia for one match.
Three of the four all-time leading Test wicket-takers, including the top two Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, and leading batsmen such as Brian Lara and Ponting will play.
All proceeds from the match will go to aid agency World Vision, which has already raised more than $15 million for tsunami victims this weekend from a mass concert and telethon.
“Having a gathering of players like this in Melbourne is great for this game and it’s obviously going to be great for the tsunami relief fund,” Ponting said yesterday.
“It’s great to see people have come from all around the world to do whatever we can as a player group and as a cricket community for people that are a lot less fortunate than us.”
The match has been pulled together in just 12 days, with most of the players assembling here yesterday for a media conference and light training. Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist, who is also a World Vision ambassador, said he hoped the nation’s outpouring of generosity to help tsunami victims wouldn’t be a one-off event. “It shouldn’t just take one freak act of nature to realize just how generous we can be,” Gilchrist said.
Asian XI: Saurav Ganguly (IND capt), Sanath Jayasuriya (SRI), Virender Sehwag (IND), Rahul Dravid (IND), Yousuf Youhana (PAK), Alok Kapali (BAN), Kumar Sangakkara (SRI), Abdul Razzaq (PAK), Chaminda Vaas (SRI), Zaheer Khan (IND), Anil Kumble (IND), Muttiah Muralitharan (SRI), Sachin Tendulkar (IND).
Rest of the World: Ricky Ponting (AUS capt), Matthew Hayden (AUS), Adam Gilchrist (AUS), Stephen Fleming (NZL), Brian Lara (WIN), Chris Gayle (WIN), Chris Cairns (NZL), Shane Warne (AUS), Glenn McGrath (AUS), Dwayne Bravo (WIN), Darren Gough (ENG), Daniel Vettori (NZL). Coach manager: Steve Waugh (AUS).
