World's cricketing elite set to realise tsunami appeal windfall
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

MELBOURNE (Australia): World cricket's elite gather here on Monday to raise an estimated 10 million dollars (7.5 million US dollars) for the Asian tsunami disaster.

The Rest of the World, led by Ricky Ponting, will take on the Sourav 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 from 122 countries 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 20 million dollars (15 million US dollars) 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 Sunday.

"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 Sunday for a media conference and light training.

No official estimate has been put on the funds likely to be raised from the match, but privately 10 million dollars is being talked about as a realistic aim, with one million dollars (750,000 US dollars) already generated in ticket sales, one million dollars pledged by the match sponsor and 1,000 dollars a run  to be donated by a mobile phone company.

All proceeds from food and drink sales, auctions of signed shirts on website eBay, and a telethon to be held in conjunction with the match on the Nine Network will also swell the coffers to aid World Vision's work in the devastated region.

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 realise just how generous we can be," Gilchrist said. "There are wonderful long-term opportunities to realise that we can lend a hand."

Several of the players taking part, including Muralitharan and Sri Lankan teammate Sanath Jaysuriya, have been helping in the relief effort by visiting the worst-hit regions with food parcels.

For Muralitharan, the match will be his first in five months after shoulder surgery and is his first in Australia since he boycotted Sri Lanka's tour after a furore over his suspect bowling action.

But Muralitharan said he was expecting better treatment on Sunday than in the past from Australian fans.

The International Cricket Council has declared the match an official one-day international, meaning statistics from the game will  count on players' career records.

"Everyone here has got that competitive instinct within them, otherwise they wouldn't be here and they wouldn't be recognised as being some of the best players in the world," Ponting said.

"The idea is to put on the best possible show we can and make it the best spectacle for cricket fans all around the world."

Tsunamis killed more than 156,000 people when they crashed into Indian Ocean coastlines on Boxing Day.

Asian XI: Sourav 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)

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) Billy Bowden (NZL)●