Watch: Ricky Ponting's Audacious One-Handed Flick Off Courtney Walsh's Bowling In Bushfire Bash

Ricky Ponting rolled back the years with a fine batting performance during the Bushfire bash charity match at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Sunday. The dose of nostalgia was an ever-present as some of the greatest players to have ever played the game took the field to raise money for victims of the blazes which began in September and have left at least 33 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed in Australia. And while all the players were in high spirits, Ponting seemed focussed on the job at hand. The former Australian captain scored 26 off 14 balls, including four fours, one of which was a one-handed flick off Courtney Walsh's bowling over the short-fine leg fielder.

Watch Ricky Ponting's audacious flick shot here:

Who needs two hands? #BigAppeal pic.twitter.com/EZPResGrVN

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 9, 2020

The star of the innings, however, was West Indies great Brian Lara, who smashed 30 off just 11 balls, including three fours and two sixes, before he retired out. Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden contributed 16 runs off 14 balls but was sent packing by Yuvraj Singh.

In the end Ponting XI posted 104/5 off the allotted 10 overs after they had been put into bat by Gilchrist XI.

The Bushfire Bash was originally scheduled to be held as a curtain raiser to the Twenty20 Big Bash League final on Saturday, but with downpours expected, Cricket Australia (CA) said it would no longer be possible at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

Instead, it was postponed by a day and shifted to the smaller Junction Oval in Melbourne.

Shane Warne, Michael Hussey, and Michael Clarke were among those forced out due to prior commitments.

Adam Gilchrist is captaining one of the teams in Warne's absence with Australian Test skipper Tim Paine acting as coach. The Ponting team is being coached by Sachin Tendulkar.

Topics mentioned in this article

Australia Cricket Team Ricky Ponting Sachin Tendulkar Courtney Walsh Yuvraj Singh Brian Lara Matthew Hayden Cricket