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Ponting’s XI Win The Bushfire Bash As Huge Money Is Raised

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Ponting's XI beat Gilchrist's XI Win The Bushfire Bash As Huge Money Is Raised
Images shared by Adam Gilchrist and Wasim Akram on their social media handles: @gilly381 and @wasimakramlive

A friendly bushfire relief match between two teams, comprising mostly retired cricket legends and a few present-day stars, took place at the Junction Oval Ground in Melbourne. The main purpose of the charity match was to raise money for the relief of the victims of the Australian bushfires which affected the flora and fauna and also some residential areas in many parts of Australia for the last 5/6 months. In the end, Ricky Ponting’s XI  beat Adam Gilchrist’s XI by one run in what was a fun match, played less seriously but with a lot of heart and feelings towards helping the bushfire affected ones.

 

The highlight of the match was the return of many of the former cricket greats, back in action on the cricket ground. Retired great players such as Pakistan’s Wasim Akram, Australia’s Brett Lee, West Indies’ Brian Lara, and many others made fans nostalgic, as they showed their signature cricket skills and style once again to the world.

Gilchrist XI won the toss and invited Ricky Ponting’s team to bat first. The match was 10 over a side match. Former Australian cricketers Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden came in as openers.  Langer was the first to get out as he was clean bowled by the great former West Indian pacer Courtney Walsh. Matthew Hayden got out on the bowling of Yuvraj Singh as the Australian women’s cricket star batsman Elyse Villani took his catch. Hayden scored 14-ball 16 runs, hitting 1 four and 1 six.

Next came captain Ricky Ponting and teenage sensation female batter Phoebe Litchfield. Phoebe scored one boundary but later got out on the bowling of Andrew Symonds. Phoebe scored 9 runs from 12 balls.

The two master batsmen Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara entertained the fans with some amazing shots all around. Ricky Ponting made 14-ball 26 runs, hitting 4 fours, while Lara scored 30 runs from just 11 balls, hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes. Both later retired early, giving other batsmen the chance to play.

In the end, Ponting’s XI finished their inning with a total of 104/5 in 10 overs. Courtney Walsh, Yuvraj Singh, and Andrew Symonds took one wicket each, while other bowlers such as Peter Siddle, Nick Riewoldt, Fawad Ahmed, Elyse Villani, Cameron Smith remained wicketless.

Chasing the target of 105 runs, captain Adam Gilchrist and Shane Watson both came in as openers. Both started well. Gilchrist made 17 runs from 11 balls, hitting 2 fours and 1 six, before getting clean bowled by Luke Hodge. Shane Watson played a fabulous inning of 30 runs from 9 balls, hitting 2 fours and 3 sixes, before deciding to retire early to give other batsmen the chance to play.

Next came Brad Hodge and Yuvraj Singh. Both got out early on the bowling of the speedster Brett Lee. Brett Lee first clean bowled Brad Hodge, while Yuvraj Singh tried to go for a lofted shot towards the long-on region, where Australia’s female cricket star, Alex Blackwell took a clean catch. Hodge made zero while Singh made 2 runs from 6 balls.

Next batter Elyse Villani made 6 runs from 9 balls before retiring early. Andrew Symonds played some big shots, as he made 13-ball 29 runs, hitting 3 fours and 2 sixes. He too retired, as Cameron Smith and Nick Riewoldt were left to achieve a rather difficult target in the last two overs.

Australian Rugby Star Cameron Smith was clean bowled by Wasim Akram on the first ball, but he was given another chance to bat on, as the rules stated so and fans too loved the gesture.

Cameron Smith and Nick Riewoldt managed to close in the gap but in the end, the target seemed out of reach as they needed 10 runs from 1 ball. But thanks to Umpire Melanie Jones, who signaled no-ball, as Reiwodlt hit the ball for the four.

It was a controversial decision in a fun way, as bowler Dan Christian did not seem to have bowled a no-ball. But again the decision was welcomed by all in the spirit of the noble cause and now the batting team needed 5 runs from the last ball, giving the match a suspense-filled finish.

Riewoldt failed to hit a six, but he and Smith did manage to run three runs in what was a very friendly and fun last-ball situation, where the batsmen kept running between the wickets but fielders did not seem to care to run them out.

And thus Ponting’s XI won the match by just one run. Gilchrist thought it was a tie, as he revealed speaking to one of the presenters after the match.

The match was watched all over the world and got a great response from the fans who had attended the match to re-live some of their retired stars’ memories.

The interesting conversations the commentators had with the players while they were playing speaking into the wireless mics made everyone smile.

During the break, the great former batsmen Sachin Tendulkar played 3 balls each from ICC Women’s cricketer of the year and highly popular cricket star, Ellyse Perry, and 18-year old Australian female cricket star, Annabel Sutherland.

 

 

Overall, it was a great match full of fun, hope, camaraderie and positive vibes. Immediately after the match, it was revealed that around $7.7M were raised for the Australian bushfires match and the donations for the Big Appeal are still on.

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