01 January 2005	Saturday	19 Ziqa'ad 1425

NEW DELHI, Dec 31: The Indian cricket board has pledged Rs10 million (approximately $230,000) for relief and rehabiliation in southern India, where Sunday's tsunami has killed an estimated 13,000 people.

Players of the national team, amongst the highest-paid cricketers in the world, have said they will each also donate the match fees of one one-day international for the victims.

The tsunami that hit Asia has killed more than 125,000 people in 13 countries around the Indian Ocean. One million people have been rendered homeless and at least five million are without basic needs to survive.

FUND-RAISING MATCH

SYDNEY: Australia's cricketers on Thursday proposed an international match to raise funds for tsunami victims. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland met players' representatives and ICC officials on Friday to discuss the practicalities of staging a charity match in Melbourne in January.

Sutherland said the match was a way for cricket to do something tangible to help victims of the tsunami disaster. But he said it could not go ahead without the support of international cricket regulators. "If an international cricket fund- raising match is to happen, we can't do it alone and will need the support of both the ACC and the ICC," he said. -Agencies