The historical day finally came on Sunday as all the cricketing legends were present in one ground to play against each other in the Bushfire Cricket Bash match in Melbourne.
Australia’s head coach Justin Langer was also part of the match and he played along side former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram. He made six runs for Ponting XI in the match before being clean bowled by West Indies great Courtney Walsh.
On the other hand, Wasim failed to pick up any wicket and conceded 21 runs in 2 0vers. Meanwhile, the former Australia opener revealed that Wasim was the greatest fast bowler he ever faced while he picked West Indies’s Courtney Walsh as the second best.
“Wasim Akram was the greatest fast bowler I ever faced, the second best was Courtney Walsh. To be facing Courtney, still at the age of 50 he’s giving me nightmares,” he said.
It was a thrilling encounter between Ponting XI and Gilchrist XI in the Bushfire Cricket Bash match which was a charity match held in Australia to raise funds for the Bushfire victims.
Chasing a target of 105, Gilchrist XI got off to a flier as openers Shane Watson, and skipper Gilchrist put on 49 runs in the first three overs. However, in the 4th over of the game, Luke Hodge dismissed Gilchrist (17), and Watson got retired.
Then came one of India’s most exceptional all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, he joined another Aussie veteran Brad Hodge who replaced Australian all-rounder Shane Watson. Though, they couldn’t leave any impact in the game as pacer Brett Lee soon sent Brad Hodge (0) and Yuvraj (2) back to the pavilion.
Andrew Symonds tried his best with 29 off 13 balls, but it wasn’t enough to get his team over the finish line, and In the end, Ponting XI sealed a thrilling win by one run.
During the mid-innings break, Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar came to bat one over on public demand and he faced Australia Women’s star pacer Ellyse Perry, after the former accepted the challenge thrown by Perry on social media.
After the end of the match, it was informed that by Cricket Australia the Bushfire charity cricket match managed to raise over USD 7.7 million for the communities devastated by the fires.
“He’s still giving me nightmares” – some gold from Justin Langer, who resumed rivalries with the great Courtney Walsh today at the Bushfire Appeal… and lost! pic.twitter.com/cytyZYk648
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 9, 2020
