Cricket legends manage to raise over USD 7.7 million through Bushfire cricket bash
Sunday 9 February 2020
The charity match saw Ponting XI beat Gilchrist XI by 1 run in an entertaining game which had the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Wasim Akram in action.
Cricket Australia on Sunday confirmed that the Bushfire charity cricket match featuring legends of the past managed to raise over USD 7.7 million for the communities devastated by the fires that have ravaged Australia for months.
Two teams led by Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist played against each other in a 10-overs-per-side match in which Ponting XI emerged victorious by 1 run against Gilchrist XI at the Melbourne Junction Oval stadium.
Ponting XI posted 104 for 5 on the board in 10 overs with former West Indies captain Brian Lara top-scoring with 30 runs off 11 balls. His knock included 3 boundaries and two sixes.
Captain Ricky Ponting himself contributed with 26 runs while Matthew Hayden and Luke Hodge made 16 and 11 runs respectively.
West Indies legend Courtney Walsh, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and ex-Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds picked up a wicket each for Gilchrist XI.
In reply the Gilchrist XI started off well with Shane Watson and Adam Gilchrist adding 49 runs for the first wicket. Watson top-scored with 30 runs while Gilchrist made 11 in the partnership.
But their innings was derailed by speedster Brett Lee and Luke Hodge, who ran through the batting lineup, picking up 3 wickets in quick succession.
Brad Hodge was sent back for a duck while Yuvraj managed just 2 off 6 balls. Andrew Symonds tried his best with 29 off 13 balls but it wasn’t enough to get his team over the finish line. Lee finished with 2 for 11 while Hodge bagged a wicket for 8 runs.
During the mid-innings break, former India captain and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar padded up and faced 2019 Women’s Cricketer of the Year Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland for an over.
Tendulkar, who was also coaching the Ponting XI, said while walking up to the pitch that it was the first time in five years that he was picking up a bat.
The 46-year-old got off the mark with a boundary and then took a couple of runs but blocked out the rest of the deliveries. Perry bowled 3 balls to Tendulkar before handing it over to her teammate Annabel Sutherland for the remaining two deliveries.
