Tendulkar, Walsh join charity cricket match to raise money for Australia wildfire victims

Cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Courtney Walsh will be coaching the Ponting XI and Warne XI respectively for the charity match to raise funds for Australian wildfire victims in the Bushfire Cricket Bash scheduled for February 8.

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Cricket comes together

The charity cricket match is just one of the events organised to raise money on 'The Big Appeal'. Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts said, "We are absolutely honoured to be welcoming Sachin and Courtney back to Australia where they both enjoyed a lot of success as players, and we can't wait to have them involved in what is going to be a special day. We're looking forward to our people at CA and the entire Australian cricket family coming together for the Big Appeal."

The event is going to see a total of three cricket matches being played - Women's Tri-Series T20I clash between Australia and India, Bushfire Cricket Bash and the KFC Big Bash final.

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Australia has been battling multiple bushfires fires since September which have spread across the island nation. The intensity of the fires has only increased over time with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying that the fires will take months to blow out. Firefighters have been brought on from various countries to combat the raging fires. 

The fires have claimed at least 28 lives since September, destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 10.4 million hectares (25.7 million acres). Recent rains have eased the fires but the danger remains. 

READ: Australia: Massive Dust Storm Blankets Western New South Wales

The region has also been facing hailstorms and flood warnings, leading to serious climate change concerns amongst climate scientists and environmentalists. 

Recently, Tennis Australia organized a charity match to raise funds for the victims of the Australian bush fires and collected almost AUD 5 million for the cause.

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