02 January 2005	Sunday	20 Ziqa'ad 1425

SYDNEY, Jan 1: A two-match one-day series between an International Cricket Council XI and an Asian XI was announced on Saturday as part of the global cricket community's efforts to support the victims of the tsunami that devastated countries across the Indian Ocean.

The first match will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Jan 10 with the return leg at a venue to be selected by the Asian Cricket Council on a date to be fixed in February or March, the International Cricket Council said in a statement.

Reports here on Saturday said that champion Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne, Test cricket's leading wicket-taker, would come out of one-day cricket retirement and play in the special matches.

ICC President, Ehsan Mani, said that the enormous goodwill across the cricket playing world had made the matches possible at short notice.

"Like the rest of the world, the international cricket community is shocked at the scale of the devastation caused by this disaster," Mani said in the statement.

"All of us, the players, the home boards and the regional and international governing bodies have been looking for a way to make a meaningful contribution to the massive effort that is required to help deal with the impact of this tragedy," Mani said.

"These matches along with other fund-raising initiatives in other countries provide us with the way to make this contribution."

Federation of International Cricketers' Association CEO Tim May said international players, many of whom had close relationships in tsunami-affected regions, had pledged their support to help ensure the fund raising games are successes.

May said players from England and South Africa would not be available for the opening match because it coincides with their Test series but they would be included in the second game in Asia.

"It's important that we get the best players for both teams," May said.

"The support from the players has been unanimous so far, everyone wants to help."

The West Indies team, captained by Brian Lara, were scheduled to arrive in Australia on Sunday for a triangular one-day series with Australia and Pakistan and some of their stars were expected to play in the World XI.

The World Xl will be announced on Sunday by New Zealand cricket great Richard Hadlee and former Australian skipper Stephen Waugh and the Asian XI side will be named on Monday.

"Our region has been devastated and the Asian Cricket Council has been seeking a way to use cricket to assist people to recover from this tragedy," Asian Cricket Council President Jagmohan Dalmiya said in the statement.

"I believe that these matches will be able to generate millions of dollars to be used to help rebuild people's lives."

Thilanga Sumathipala, former President of Sri Lankan Cricket, one of the countries most affected by the tsunami, said he had appealed to the ICC for assistance in dealing with the tragedy.

"... these matches will provide much needed support for people affected by this disaster," he said.

The money raised from the Australian fund raising efforts will go to global relief and development organization World Vision, the ICC statement said.

The Asian Cricket Council will determine how the money raised by the second match will be allocated to assist in the relief effort.

In other fundraising initiatives from, around the cricket world:

The Board of Control of Cricket in India has donated 120,000 pounds to relief efforts; the Australian Test team donated its 17,000 dollar (13,000 US dollar) prizemoney from the Melbourne Boxing Day Test to tsunami relief with a matching donation from Cricket Australia; the England team and its players' association, the Professional Cricketers' Association, has donated a total of 20,000 pounds to assist with relief efforts; the Indian team will donate their payments from a one-day match to the Indian Prime Minister's Relief Fund; and the Bangladesh Cricket Board has pledged the gate receipts from its series against Zimbabwe, estimated at 10,000 US dollars, to relief efforts.

The tsunami-affected areas include Sri Lanka and India which are ICC Full Members; Malaysia which has been an ICC Associate Member since 1967; and Thailand, the Maldives and Indonesia which are all ICC Affiliate Members.- AFP