Today, the cre?me de la cre?me of (New Zealand) cricket, other sports and actors played the charity Twenty20 match “Fill the Basin for Christchurch” in beautiful Wellington summer weather. New Zealand’s premier and traditional cricket ground The Basin Reserve in the city was an ideal place to hold this match.

12,000 tickets were sold (2,000 more than initially planned), but I was fortunate to get one as a few were still available at the gates right after the game had started. YEAH! This was also finally the time that I sat through an entire game – albeit a Twenty20 one 😉

The game participants were high-powered and they had fun playing themselves entertaining the crowd.

The teams are:

Wellington Legends XI (team black)
Coach: James Nesbitt

Martin Crowe (captain; cousin of Russell Crowe), Andrew Jones, Bruce Edgar, Chris Nevin, Ewen Chatfield, Gavin Larsen, Jason Wells, Jonathan Millmow, Matthew Bell, Richard Petrie, Roger Twose, Tana Umaga

Canterbury Invitation XI (team red)
Coach: Russell Crowe (yes, the actor)

Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Geoff Allott, Marc Ellis, Mark Greatbatch, Sir Richard Hadlee, Rod Latham, Craig McMillan, Dion Nash, Adam Parore, Justin Vaughan, Shane Warne

Match Referee: Sir Ian McKellan

Umpires: Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith, Martin Freeman, Mark Hadlow (who also bowled one ball)

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