Nick Tsagaris - Ponting and Warne launch charity cricket match for bushfire victims

Nick Tsagaris - Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting launch charity cricket match for victims of fires across Australia

Australian cricket greats Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne will take to the field on February 8 in a charity game to raise funds for the bushfire appeal.

Warne and former Australia captain Ponting said outside the MCG that the Bushfire Cricket Bash will be the curtain raiser to the Big Bash final.

The venue is yet to be announced but the pair, who will each captain a side, said they were hoping to attract past cricketers as well as athletes from other sports, along with film, television and music stars to participate.

Cricket Australia announced the match on Sunday and said there will be fundraising initiatives across that match, the Big Bash Final and a Women's T20 ODI to be played at the Junction Oval earlier in the day, with all proceeds going to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.

Retired Australian cricketers Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Justin Langer, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and Alex Blackwell will also take part, while former men's

Test and ODI skipper Steve Waugh and former Australian women's player Mel Jones will also be involved in a non-playing capacity.

"Hopefully a few [more] big names will get involved as well," Warne said on Sunday.

"From all sorts, whether it be music, film, TV or sports from different codes."

International cricket legends Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni are on the wish list.

Melbourne or Sydney Cricket Ground?

The venue will only be decided when the host of the BBL final is confirmed, but the MCG looms as a likely option.

Last year's runners-up the Melbourne Stars are top of the BBL ladder, ahead of the Sydney Sixers after eight games in a tournament where each side plays 13 matches.

One of the top-two teams will qualify for and host the final, and with those two teams unlikely to be overtaken atop the ladder, it seems highly likely the venue of the charity match will be the Melbourne or Sydney Cricket Ground.

Ponting, though seemed to have his sights set on Australia's sporting mecca.

"I'm actually quite excited if it is here because one more game at the MCG would be nice," Ponting said.

For Warne, who already auctioned his prized Baggy Green for charity, receiving over $1 million from the Commonwealth Bank towards the bushfire appeal, he sees it as an opportunity for

plenty of other Aussie sportspeople to get involved.

"I know Nick Riewoldt wanted to play and Jack Riewoldt thinks he is good at everything, so I am sure he will try and get in as well," Warne said.

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said the match would be "Cricket Australia's major fundraising initiative to support Australians impacted by the recent unprecedented bushfire emergency".

"People the world over have seen the overwhelming images of hundreds of thousands of hectares burnt, precious lives lost, hundreds of properties destroyed and the devastating loss of wildlife as a result of the fires," he said.

"These images have reinforced the need to get behind organisations like the Australian Red Cross which is responding to the immediate requirements of people who have lost loved ones, their homes, and their livelihoods."

By: abc.net.au