Ricky Ponting scored 26 off 14 balls, including four fours
Ricky Ponting rolled back the years at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Sunday, with a fine batting effort during the Bushfire bash charity match. The dose of regret was ever-present as some of the biggest players ever played the game took the field to raise money for outbreak victims that began in September and left at least 33 people dead and thousands of homes in Australia lost.
And while all the players were in high spirits, Ponting seemed to be concentrating on the job in hand. The former Australian captain scored 26 off 14 balls with four fours, one of which was a one-handed flick off the bowling of Courtney Walsh over the short-fine leg fielder.
Ricky Ponting’s One-Handed Shot Is Here:
Who needs two hands? #BigAppeal pic.twitter.com/EZPResGrVN
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 9, 2020
Nonetheless, the star of the innings was West Indies great Brian Lara, who smashed 30 off only 11 balls, including three fours and two sixes, before retirement. Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden has contributed 16 runs off 14 balls but Yuvraj Singh has sent him back to the pavilion.
Ponting XI eventually posted 104/5 off the allotted 10 overs after Gilchrist XI had brought them into bat. The performance of Ponting XI was really good. After that, it was the term of Gilchrist XI.
At the Twenty20 Big Bash League final on Saturday, the Bushfire Bash was originally scheduled to be held as a curtain-raiser, but with downpours anticipated, Cricket Australia (CA) said it would no longer be possible on the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Then, it was delayed by one day, and moved to Melbourne’s smaller Junction Oval. Among those driven out were Shane Warne, Michael Hussey, and Michael Clarke, due to prior commitments.
Adam Gilchrist is captaining one of the teams with Australian Test skipper Tim Paine serving as a coach in Warne’s absence. Sachin Tendulkar is Coaching the Ponting Unit.
