NEWS FROM MCC

MORE MCC SUPPORT FOR

TSUNAMI SURVIVORS:

MAJOR FUND-RAISING DINNER

AT LORD'S ON SATURDAY

MCC is stepping up its efforts to support victims of the Asian tsunami by making the Long Room available, free of charge, for a major fund-raising dinner this weekend.

It is hoped that Saturday's event - organised by the Sri Lankan Cavaliers Cricket Club - will raise £25,000 to fund the construction of ten new homes for families which survived the disaster.

The building work will be overseen by Arjuna Ranatunga - a member of the Cavaliers, the captain of Sri Lanka in their victorious World Cup campaign (in 1996) and now a Minister in the country's Government (which has already approved the homes' construction).

The guests at the dinner will include Hon. Kingsley Wickramaratne - the Governor of the Southern Province in Sri Lanka, and Special Advisor to the President - who will provide an update on the relief and recovery effort.

A number of prominent cricketing figures are also expected to attend the event, together with Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in London.

Some tickets are still available - priced at £65 each, or £585 for a table of ten - from the Sri Lanka Cavaliers. (For further details, please visit (https://srilankancavaliers.tripod.com/.)

MCC has already helped to raise over £600,000 for tsunami recovery projects, largely through the success of the special one-day match - involving (among many others) Shane Warne, Brian Lara, Kumar Sangakkara and Stephen Fleming - staged at Lord's in mid-June.

The Club's President, Robin Marlar, said:

"MCC has long had close connections with Sri Lanka; in particular, our touring teams played their part in moving the country towards Test status.

As a result, we were particularly shocked by the tsunami, which devastated so many of the coastal areas on Boxing Day. Since then, we have been keen to help the survivors re-build their homes, communities and lives.

We are delighted to be making the Long Room available for Saturday's dinner, and wish the Sri Lankan Cavaliers every success in their efforts to build new homes - which are desperately needed - to replace those wrecked by the disaster."