First ODI
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. Big hitting Adam Gilchrist (24) hit the first six of the match, which by itself earned A$50,000 for the appeal courtesy of Toyota. Gilchrist was himself caught behind off Zaheer shortly thereafter. The ensuing Ponting/Brian Lara partnership saw both players reach half-centuries, with Lara's 50 coming in 76 balls, a relatively slow speed compared with the power-hitting to be seen later. Lara was dismissed for 52, due to a well-taken Chaminda Vaas catch in the deep off Anil Kumble. Ponting, who was closing in on his century, was then forced to play second-fiddle to a whirlwind innings by New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns, who at one point had contributed more than 40 runs off a 60 run partnership. Kumble bore the brunt of this attack, with several balls disappearing into the crowd for 6. Cairns also contributed the shot of the match, a straight-driven 6 off Muttiah Muralitharan from halfway down the pitch. Ponting's century was the cue for him to cut loose, hitting two consecutive 6s before being stumped off Kumble. 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. The final over featured a partnership between spinners Daniel Vettori (27 not out) and Shane Warne (2 not out), with Warne's comeback to limited-overs cricket being greeting rapturously by the fans. The innings ended on a somewhat farcical note, as Warne miscounted the number of balls left in the final over and began leaving the field with Vaas having one delivery left. Rising to the occasion, umpire Bowden issued Warne with a "yellow card", to cheers from the crowd. Warne was recalled to the wicket and the World XI finished with a total of 344 for 8. As match sponsors Travelex were pledging a donation of A$1,000 per run, and Toyota A$50,000 for each for the six sixes, the World XI had earned A$644,000.
The ACC Asian XI were faced with the challenge of rewriting history, since no team had made a successful run chase of 345 in cricket history (the highest total in 50-over ODI's successfully chased – at the time – being 326 runs). Openers Jayasuriya, whose mother had been injured in the tsunami, and Sehwag made a good start, with Sehwag hitting another 6, but the introduction of Cairns into the attack proved Jayasuriya's undoing, with the Sri Lankan (28) captain edging a soft catch to Fleming at first slip. The next wickets all fell to spin, with Warne claiming Sehwag (48) via a boundary catch by Gayle. The dismissal was almost a carbon-copy of the way in which Sehwag fell in the Boxing Day Test of 2003. Vettori was able to get Sourav Ganguly (22) to hit an easy catch to Darren Gough at mid-off, while Yousuf Youhana fell for just 4 as Ponting took another catch off Warne's bowling. The partnership between Rahul Dravid (71 not out) and keeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara (24) was seen as potentially a ray of hope, as both men were capable of remaining calm and playing shots, however Sangakkara edged a Gough delivery to Gilchrist. 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. The tail provided only sporadic resistance, with Vaas (7) being caught by Gayle 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. Steve Waugh, the World XI coach/manager also came onto the field for a spot of fielding. 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. Kumble (11) held on for 7 balls before "all-rounder" McGrath finally claimed his only wicket for the match, clean-bowling him. Gayle was given the job of bowling the 40th over, which featured a moment of indecision by Rahul Dravid as Vettori swooped on the ball, while Dravid was able to avoid being run out, his batting partner Muralitharan – running to the danger end – was not so lucky and fell for a duck, completing the Asian XI's innings of 232. 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.
Read more about this topic: World Cricket Tsunami Appeal