World Cricket Tsunami Appeal

India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh were the affected Test match playing nations, as were Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives and Indonesia among the other associate & affiliate members of the ICC.

The second was to be held in Kolkata, India, originally scheduled for 13 February, but on 28 January 2005 the ICC announced it would instead be played in the second half of April.

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.

[2] World XI captain Ponting won the toss and chose to bat, a decision which looked to have backfired early when opener Chris Gayle was caught behind off Zaheer Khan for only 1.

This resulted in the surprising appearance of professional tailender Glenn McGrath at number 6 on the back of his "brilliant" 61 against New Zealand earlier that summer–ahead of both Stephen Fleming and Australian opener Matthew Hayden.

Commentators were barely able to keep straight faces as "the newest all-rounder in world cricket" attempted to slog Muralitharan for 6 on the first ball, unfortunately misjudging the spin of the delivery and being easily caught by Yousuf Youhana.

Cairns completed his blazing 50 and became even more cavalier with his wicket, eventually being stumped off Muralitharan as well, but the damage had already been done with the World XI looking at a score well above 300.

Stephen Fleming contributed a quickfire 30, losing batting partner Hayden for only 2 (stumped off Muralitharan again), before being clean bowled by Vaas.

Pakistani all-rounder Abdul Razzaq (11) began promisingly, but became another victim of the desire to raise the scoring rate, being stumped by Gilchrist off Vettori.

Zaheer Khan (0) achieved the unwanted distinction of being run out without facing a ball as he fell to a well-executed Chris Gayle throw.

Wild cheers erupted whenever he fielded the ball; a brilliant diving save showed that he could still play despite a year out of the international arena.

With one six in the innings, the ACC Asian XI had won A$282,000 from the sponsors, bringing the total being paid by Travelex and Toyota for the teams' performances to A$926,000.

At one stage they were reduced to 20 for the loss of four wickets, before a partnership by Graeme Hick and Jonty Rhodes helped the team a less embarrassing, yet still low, total of 158.

Any fear that spectators would not get their money's-worth from a truncated match were soon allayed by an astonishing innings from New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who bludgeoned the bowling in scoring 106 from just 57 deliveries, including nine sixes and ten fours.

New Zealand batted first and scored well in the early stages, but lost wickets at vital times, much of the damage being done by bowlers Andrew Bichel and Lance Klusener.

The New Zealand batsmen did not find conditions much easier, as Ian Harvey took 4 for 17, but managed to reach 83 for 6 in the 16th over, winning the series 2–1.

In reply, the International XI got off to a blazing start, as Sanath Jayasuriya and Graeme Smith lifted them to 65 for 1 after ten overs.

Lara charged Anil Kumble to Shoaib Akhtar for 42, no other International batsman passed 20, and the team crumbled to 189 for 7 – Smith stumped for 68.

[9] Surrey County Cricket Club hosted a Twenty20 game between Asia and the Rest of the World in aid of the tsunami appeal on 20 June 2005 at the Oval.