World Cricket Tsunami Appeal
The World Cricket Tsunami Appeal is an effort by the International Cricket Council to raise funds to support the humanitarian relief efforts following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004.
Cricketing Nations Affected By The Tsunami
The tsunami affected several leading cricketing nations. India and Sri Lanka are test match playing nations - Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives and Indonesia are members of the ICC.
One-day Internationals
The centrepiece of world cricket's efforts to support the victims of the tsunami is a two-match one-day series between a World XI and an Asian XI. The first of these games was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia on 10 January 2005. The second will be held in either India or Sri Lanka in February or March. The matches were telecast in at least 122 countries.
Travelex sponsored the first match, which was a 78,000 sell-out, for AUD 1 million. Two C-130H Hercules aircraft, similar to those used by the Royal Australian Air Force to carry supplies to regions devastated by the massive earthquake and resulting tsunamis, flew over the MCG during the break between innings. The first ODI, which the World XI won by 112 runs, raised more than $14 million.
The games have been designated as One-day Internationals by the ICC, the first time a game between teams not representing separate cricketing nations has been so designated. This designation has attracted criticism from cricket statisticians.
Teams For The First ODI
The World XI is coached/managed by Steve Waugh (Aus) and comprises: Dwayne Bravo (WI); Chris Cairns (NZ); Stephen Fleming (NZ); Chris Gayle (WI); Adam Gilchrist† (Aus); Darren Gough (Eng); Matthew Hayden (Aus); Brian Lara (WI); Glenn McGrath (Aus); Ricky Ponting* (Aus); Daniel Vettori (NZ) and Shane Warne (Aus).
Dwayne Bravo was 12th man.
The Asian XI : Abdul Razzaq (Pak); Alok Kapali (Ban); Rahul Dravid (Ind); Sourav Ganguly* (Ind); Sanath Jayasuriya (SL); Zaheer Khan (Ind); Anil Kumble (Ind); Muttiah Muralitharan (SL); Kumar Sangakkara† (SL); Virender Sehwag (Ind); Sachin Tendulkar (Ind); Chaminda Vaas (SL) and Yousuf Youhana (Pak). The Asian XI is coached/managed by current Pakistan national coach Bob Woolmer.
Alok Kapali was 12th man, Sachin Tendulkar was 13th man.
The onfield umpires were Rudi Koertzen (SA) and Brent "Billy" Bowden (NZ). Chris Broad (Eng) was the match referee. Bob Parry (Aus) was the TV umpire. All the match officials are gave their services unpaid.
On 7 January 2004 five of the World XI players, Darren Gough, Chris Cairns, Daniel Vettori, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo, sent messages of hope and called on cricket fans to support the Appeal.
Auctions
To further raise funds for the international relief effort, several items from the match will be sold off at charity auctions. A pure silver 40mm dollar coin given by Royal Australian Mint, which was tossed by John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, is one of the items for sale. The coin and the players' shirts, which will be signed and come with a letter of authenicity from Cricket Australia, are being auctioned on eBay with all money going to the designated charity. The Asian XI captain and captain of the Indian cricket team, Sourav Ganguly, has announced he will be auctioning his bat.
The current bids in the ongoing auctions for the shirts and ball are shown below. The current high bid is correct at 16:03 UTC on 10 January 2005. Those wishing to bid on the items should go to this link to eBay
| Cricket shirts | |
|---|---|
| Player | Current high bid (in AUD) |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 3,600.00 |
| Virender Sehwag | 4,250.00 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 13,000.00 |
| Chaminda Vaas | 3,600.00 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | 6,600.00 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 4,550.00 |
| Daniel Vettori | 6,100.00 |
| Zaheer Khan | 3,200.00 |
| Anil Kumble | 3,800.00 |
| Ricky Ponting | 25,600.00 |
| Yousuf Youhana | 3,100.00 |
| Stephen Fleming | 4,350.00 |
| Rahul Dravid | 4,250.00 |
| Dwayne Bravo | 5,050.50 |
| Matthew Hayden | 7,800.00 |
| Glenn McGrath | 8,600.00 |
| Chris Cairns | 7,100.00 |
| Abdul Razzaq | 3,150.00 |
| Chris Gayle | 7,100.00 |
| Shane Warne | 143,300.00 |
| Adam Gilchrist | 12,100.00 |
| Darren Gough | 5,600.00 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 4,251.00 |
| Brian Lara | 10,300.00 |
| Alok Kapali | 3,050.00 |
| Other item | |
| Item | Current high bid (in AUD) |
| Match coin | 501,300.00 |
Note: Readers should bear in mind that some of the above-mentioned bids may turn out not to be genuine.
Designated Charity
Money from the first match will go to World Vision, a charity that helps children and their communities worldwide.
Other Fundraising
Cricket has also engaged in other fundraising efforts.
Media Coverage
In Australia the game was televised on the Nine Network (and its regional affilates), and on ABC Local Radio. The game was broadcast to 122 countries with an estimated audience of one billion. In the United Kingdom the game was being shown live on Sky Sports Extra, starting at 3am in the morning of Monday 10 January.
And for those who want to get in on the action by actually playing the game, Stick Cricket has designed a virtual tsunami appeal game for you to play. Links are included on the page to donate money to World Vision.
Reference
- International Cricket Council
- BBC
- BBC page on the Marylebone Cricket Club's tsunami appeal efforts
- The Hindu
- Cricket World
- World's cricketers set to make history from the Sydney Morning Herald