14.6 million, but could have been more?

The cricket world for once stood up together as one and made its presence felt at a time when it mattered. More than 14.6 million Australian dollars were generated from the Rest of the World v Asia XI one-day match in Melbourne. Call me churlish for saying so, but if the ICC hadn't granted this match official ODI status, that number would have been higher.

After racking up 344, the ICC World XI were well and truly home. Especially when Asia XI wickets tumbled in the top order, leaving them with an impossible run-rate to score at. At this stage, had it not been an official ODI, the bowlers would have taken it easy. Some part-time dobbers would have come on and served up dollies so the match at least looked competitive. Remember, each six hit made the charity richer by Au$ 50,000 thanks to Toyota, and every run scored fetched Au$1000 courtesy 3G the mobile phone company.

So, if this was not an official ODI, the likes of Stephen Fleming and Ricky Ponting could have tossed a few up and let Asia XI closer to 344. Hypothetically, if Asia XI had scored 320, with four more sixes (how apt it would have been to see Muttiah Muralitharan carve one of those?) the fund would be richer by Au$ 288,000!

Now that is a bundle of cash that just went abegging.