ICC World XI will play a one-off exhibition match against West Indies to raise money for cricket relief.
To help rebuild the stadia on Caribbean Islands, West Indies team will play an exhibition T20I match against ICC World XI at Cricket's iconic Lord's ground on May 31. Talking about the event, England's stand-in director and coach of World XI, Andy Flower said that the events like these are more about generating goodwill than just raising the money.
“I’ve been involved in these World XI charity events before as a player, and there’s usually a wonderful feel to it. The feeling is generated because the intent behind everyone’s involvement is for good and you get some really amazing side benefits as well. For instance, here we’ve got Pakistanis and Indians sharing a dressing room which doesn’t happen very often,” Flower told ICC-Cricket.com.
Eight months ago Hurricane Irma and Maria affected the islands in the worse way possible. It also destroyed cricket stadia in the process. Therefore West Indies Cricket Board, Giles Clarke, ICC and MCC decided to come together to raise the money to restore the grounds.
Assuring fans that the one-off event will be a spectacular watch, Flower added, "This is a wonderful experience and will create wonderful memories for these players and hopefully wonderful memories for the spectators who see really talented exciting players playing against a very talented exciting West Indies side."
After skipper Eoin Morgan pulled out of the fundraiser due to fractured finger, Pakistan's Shahid Afridi will now lead the World XI squad that includes Sam Billings, Sam Curran, Tamim Iqbal, Dinesh Karthik, Rashid Khan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Shoaib Malik, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tymal Mills, Thisara Perera, Adil Rashid, Luke Ronchi (wkt), and Mohammed Shami.
West Indies team is led by Carlos Brathwaite and it includes Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin (wkt), Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, and Kesrick Williams.
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