Hurricane relief match at Lord's promises to be a huge hit

Big hitter: Chris Gayle will play in aid of the Hurricane Relief project in the Caribbean
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Will Macpherson29 May 2018

There’s a pretty cool show running into London at 6pm on Thursday — and all for a good cause, too, as West Indies, captained by Carlos Brathwaite and complete with Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and the rest, meet an Eoin Morgan-led World XI at Lord’s in aid of the Hurricane Relief project in the Caribbean.

The game has full international status but the players are not being paid and MCC have offered Lord’s for free, too. Tickets cost £20 for adults and half that for kids, all of which goes directly to repairing five major Caribbean cricket venues that were damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria last year. The devastation of the islands was immense. Maria killed 31 people in Dominica and damaged 98 per cent of the island’s roofs. Anguilla suffered £219million worth of damage from Irma.

Morgan’s World XI (who are being organised by Andy Flower) are a diverse bunch, with representation from eight different national teams and a broad range of ages from the very young — Nepal’s 17-year-old leg-spinning prodigy Sandeep Lamichhane — Shahid Afridi.

Rashid Khan, the 19-year-old Afghan, is also playing and, notably, Indian and Pakistani players are on the same side, which is rather special.

Hardik Pandya had to pull out with illness, but Indians Dinesh Karthik and Mohammad Shami will play.

“It’s awesome that with the game being in London, such a diverse place, and the cause being international, that we have a properly international team,” Morgan told Standard Sport. “It’s a bit different, and the first game I’ve been involved in of this nature. Hopefully, we can put on a show, and it bodes for a really fun night. Sport is not only about competing. It’s powerful in so many other ways.”

Kit hits the fan for Stoneman

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Wholesale changes are not England’s way these days, so it was little surprise to see just Mark Stoneman axed after the terrible defeat at Lord’s. Keaton Jennings, highly rated by the interim director of cricket Andy Flower (who was not in the meeting and is not a selector but is likely to have been consulted) replaced Stoneman.

Having said he did not expect many changes, Trevor Bayliss is thought to have stuck up for Stoneman in the selection meeting but Ed Smith was soon getting in touch to reveal his exclusion. This posed a problem for Stoneman, who had been told to leave his kitbag at Lord’s to be transported to Leeds, where the team meet up again today.

He had to trek back to Lord’s late in the day and request to be allowed to re-enter the ground to pick up his kit. Stoneman did not have time to mope or reflect on his dropping: he was straight back in action for Surrey today at The Oval alongside the fit-again Morne Morkel and Tom Curran.