Matthew Hayden bowls barefooted in the Bushfire 'Big Appeal' charity fixture

The Bushfire Bash dubbed as the ‘Big Appeal’ served as a great trip down memory lane for all the cricket fans. The likes of Brett Lee, Wasim Akram, Brian Lara, Courtney Walsh, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, and whole host legends braced the stage once again to show their precocious talent and skill-sets.

On Sunday, each of the aforementioned names came out of retirement for a noble cause, giving fans one final chance to see their childhood heroes in action on a cricket field. The 10-over-a-side match played in order to raise funds for the devastation caused by the Bushfires, threw up a lot of unforgettable moments.

Among them was Brian Lara dancing down the track like only he can to stroke sumptuous cover-drives and Ricky Ponting chasing the moon ball from Courtney Walsh. Another moment that proceeded to crank up the folklore was when former swashbuckling opener Matthew Hayden came on to bowl.

Normally a bowler takes out his sweater or his cap while bowling but Hayden went a bit further and proceeded to remove his shoes as well as his socks, and bowled barefooted. Matthew Hayden came on to bowl in the 8th over where Andrew Symonds dealt him with disdain by smoking him for a couple of boundaries.

Matthew Hayden eventually ended up on the winning side

Coming back to the game, Ponting XI ended up as the winning side as they successfully defended their total of 5-104. Batting first, Matthew Hayden reunited with his former partner Justin Langer but the legendary duo did not stay long as Courtney Walsh [1-20] bamboozled the current Australian coach for a 4-ball 6. The former blazed away with a four and a six before India’s Yuvraj Singh got the better of him for 16.

Former captain Ricky Ponting turned back the clock with a 14-ball 26- an innings which included four boundaries while the Prince of Trinidad Brian Charles Lara racked up a sumptuous 11-ball 30. Ponting XI eventually finished with 5-104 in 10 overs but when Adam Gilchrist [17] and Shane Watson [30 off 9 balls] got their side to a brilliant start by racking up 49 runs in the first three overs, it looked like Punter and his team were in trouble.

But a middle-order collapse ensured that it wasn’t the case even as former all-rounder Andrew Symonds tried his level-best courtesy his whirlwind innings.