Cricket: Overwhelming early response to charity match

Nearly 20,000 tickets have been sold for the Asian tsunami fund-raising one-day game in Melbourne on Monday.

Organisers were delighted at the overwhelming early response shown by Australian fans.

"To sell almost 20,000 tickets already is a fantastic result and augurs well for creating a strong atmosphere," ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said.

The match has been arranged at short notice between a Rest of the World XI and an Asian XI at the 80,000-capacity MCG, with all proceeds going to the relief fund.

It will be shown live on Sky Sport One from 4pm.