Lord's Tsunami Match: Teams announced

[Occasional Fan]

Some big names lined up here for the Tsunami Relief match at Lord's on 14 June. Let's hope for a great day and a great and generous crowd.

Teams:

MCC: S Tendulkar (India, captain), C Gayle (West Indies), S Fleming (N Zealand), R Sarwan (West Indies), J Kallis (S Africa), A Flower (Zimbabwe), K Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), S Pollock (S Africa), A Kumble (India), M Muralitharan (Sri Lanka), S Akhtar (Pakistan)

International XI: B Lara (W Indies), V Sehwag (India), S Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka), G Smith (S Africa), R Dravid (India), S Chanderpaul (W Indies), C Cairns (N Zealand), S Warne (Australia), C Vaas (Sri Lanka), M Sami (Pakistan), M Ntini

BBC report here.

[Zainub]

And who's going to manage the two sides? I believe they had managers last time for the ICC Tsunami match. Not that I believe they should definately have one, but just that I'm cutious.

Regardless, it's going to be a good game of cricket, for a great purpose.

[Teatime FatCat]

Why is there not at least 1 Englishman playing? They can't all have games on that day? Gough would have been a good addition to one of the teams.

[Occasional Fan]

I was surprised at that as well. Was it a conscious decision? Or have England just not got any players who are good enough?

[Rachael]

This looks like being a pretty one-sided affair: Gayle's a great 5th bowler for the MCC XI and it's hard to imagine a better line up than Pollock, Kumble, Muralitheran and Akhtar. The INternational XI may boast Warne and Vaas.. but Ntini, Sami and Cairns are surely not going to be able to maintain the pressure (and I wouldn't bet against quite a few extra overs being found from Jayasuria, Sehwag and Smith).

The batting's always going to be a bit of a lottery in this sort of fixture.. with Lara and Sehwag (for instance) capable of pretty much winning a match in a single partnership... but again the MCC side seems stronger: I think the International side will have to play sensationally to even compete.

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Should be a good match to watch unless its on a similar surface to antiga !

[Rachael]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Should be a good match to watch unless its on a similar surface to antiga !

Hmmm... Ninjaman reports that a new stadium is being built in Antigua and as several of the other Carribean pitches have already been relaid (as the WI side found to their cost when England toured) my beef with pitches out there is going to subside.

In principle, though, I agree: this match ought to be played ona pitch where 220 (or even 190) would count as a "par" score.. on the understanding that this bunch of superstars ought to be given conditions which seperate the men from the boys.

What's the point in ODI cricket on pitches when any old pratt can score feely and easily and no bowler on earth can do anything about it? Makes no sense at all: if the spectators want baseball then just put on a baseball game, otherwise let's give bowlers something to work with, batsmen something to think about and grounds which routinely see scores of close to (or above) 300 just have their International status revoked.

[Pete]

Originally Posted by Teatime FatCat

Why is there not at least 1 Englishman playing? They can't all have games on that day? Gough would have been a good addition to one of the teams.

I don't know the dates of the natwest series, too lazy to look But 'cause Warnie is the only Aussie playing, i'd guess that it's because of the triangular tournament and Goughie is likely to be included into the England one day squad for that??

[Alison]

It's probably because there is an England v Australia ODI the day before. I doubt either board were prepared to release their players.

[Zainub]

Wait a sec Rach, result doesn't really count in this case, this is a charity match. And the only thing that matters is the cause, and eventually the money that will be rased. On a side note, I've been wondering reading this, where all our London members were when the BCC took this poll (sorry to take this off topic, but I'm too lazy and can't be bothred enough to start a new thread!)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cric...nd/4513025.stm