LAHORE, Oct 11: The International Cricket Council (ICC) also stepped forward to help the victims of Saturday’s severe earthquake in Pakistan announcing a donation of US $500,000 for the relief fund.

In addition, the game’s governing body, also decided to give the entire second day’s (Saturday) income of the six-day Test between Australia and World XI starting from Oct 14, director operations, Pakistan Cricket Board Abbas Zaidi told a press conference on Tuesday.

The ICC in collaboration with Cricket Australia would launch a telephone service on the second day of the Test in which people from all over the world could announce their donations for the victims on telephone, he said.

The decisions were taken during the ICC meeting held in Sydney.

The proposal for holding an ODI between Australia and the World XI on Oct 21 soon after the Test was also discussed but it was not viable because of logistics problems.

Moreover, he said that England and Wales Cricket Board and the PCB had agreed to dedicate the first ODI of five match series being played on Dec 10 in Lahore between the two countries, to the President’s earthquake relief fund.

England arrive in Pakistan on Oct 26 to play three Test and five ODIs series.

The entire gate money of the match would be given to the fund.

The PCB appreciated the gesture shown by the cricketing world and was grateful to everyone.

The PCB staff also donated their four day’s salary (Rs550,000) to the fund.