Help for Heroes XI's captain Andrew Strauss celebrates with the trophy.
©REUTERS / Action Images
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MS Dhoni sets up win for Help for heroes XI in charity game which raised £300,000
Indian limited overs captain MS Dhoni put in a man-of-the-match performance as Help for Heroes XI beat the Rest of the World in the Cricket for Heroes Twenty20 charity match at the Kia Oval in London on Thursday.
Batting first, Rest of the World put on a score of 158 runs in their allotted 20 overs riding on the back of an excellent 48-run knock by Mahela Jayawardene.
Chasing 159 to win, Help for Heroes XI, were aided by Dhoni’s unbeaten 38-run knock to see through some tense moments to seal the five-wicket victory.
Dhoni hit the winning runs by scoring a boundary in his usual style and earned the man-of-the-match award for his efforts.
The game, which raised close to £300,000 for the Help for Heroes charity, was attended by nearly 20,000 supporters who came to see the likes of Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Andrew Strauss, Brendon McCullum, Mathew Hayden, Mahela Jayawardene and Brian Lara.
Help for Heroes XI was captained by director of England cricket, Strauss, and was managed by Dawid Gower and Michael Holding.
The Rest of the World XI was captained by McCullum while Gary Kirsten and Sunil Gavaskar were the managers of the side.
McCullum wore a GoPro camera on his helmet for the most part of his innings as did the umpires Michael Gough and Martin Bodenham, creating some exciting footage.
Chief Executive of Surrey County Cricket Club, Richard Gould, thanked everyone, who took part in the fundraiser event.
“This was a fantastic end of season party, attended by a galaxy of cricketing stars and 20,000 happy cricket fans,” said Gould.
“To be able to have this good a time whilst raising nearly £300,000 for a wonderful cause is absolutely perfect and I would like to thank everyone who gave their time and effort to make it a truly memorable occasion.”
Former England off-spinner, Graeme Swann, who was a part of the Help for Heroes XI, enjoyed the entire experience of playing in the charity match in front of a packed stadium.
“I loved it,” said Swann.
“Having been out of the game for a couple of years, you miss the dressing room, the crowd, the thrill of competing.
“So to come here for such a magnificent cause, raising so much money, the whole thing was brilliant.
“The competitive edge was still there, and that was good – it made it a much better spectacle than an exhibition game where no-one really cared about who won or lost.
“We wanted to win that game and we did, which was very pleasing.”
Help for Heroes is a British charity, which helps to provide support for wounded British Armed forces servicemen, women and veterans, who were injured in the line of duty.
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