Looking at the bigger picture

Stephen Fleming led by example for MCC, hitting 62 from 59 balls © Getty Images

Twice in the space of 24 hours, the English summer has been graced by two remarkable matches, both of whose subtexts were more significant than the actual result. Down at the Rose Bowl on Monday evening, a baying amphitheatre was the setting for Australia's humiliation in the Twenty20 Ashes curtain-raiser, a match of raw passion and startling possibilities. Ricky Ponting dismissed it as a bit of fun, but you could sense he doubted his own judgment.

Up at Lord's, on the other hand, there was no doubting that fun was the primary concern for a sun-drenched audience of 20,000, not to mention the 22 luminaries mock-jousting out in the middle. Dressed all in white - a distinct rarity for a one-day match these days - we might at times have been witnessing the bicentenary of the Eton-Harrow match, which takes place at Lord's this Saturday, especially when Brian Lara became the tenth and final member of the International XI to turn his arm over. It is not for nothing that he has been limited to 60 deliveries in his 15-year Test career.

But there was, of course, a serious side - and that wasn't just the sight of Shoaib Akhtar hurtling in off his full run-up and bowling 93mph bouncers in a pointed, televised, prod to the Pakistani selectors. Six months have now passed since the devastation caused by the Asian Tsunami, but the suffering for the millions displaced on that day goes on. Cricket's reaction then was magnificent, with the original disaster appeal match at the MCG taking place a mere fortnight after the waves had subsided. And it was magnificent now. By raising more than £465,000 in pre-sold tickets alone, the MCC fixture went a long way towards ensuring that the awareness lived on.

Stephen Fleming, MCC's captain, remembered the day all too well because, when the news filtered through, he had just returned to his hotel in Auckland after leading New Zealand to victory against Sri Lanka. "Like everyone else, we saw ourselves as a small part in the bigger picture," he said after sealing today's match. "We were humbled by the devastation, and we saw at first hand the effect it had on the Sri Lankan team."

Everything about today was light-heartedness laced with a distinct air of gravitas, and Fleming admitted he had been torn towards the end, when it was clear that the International XI had shot its bolt. "We wanted to provide entertainment, but we didn't want to demean the game," he added, after resisting the urge to echo Lara's generosity and bring on the part-timers such as himself and VVS Laxman to ensure a closer finish.

He was quite right too - the game may have finished 15 overs early, but as the happy throngs wound their way back up to St John's Wood, it was clear that the sight of Shoaib in full flight and Lara in exhibition mode had provided enough happy memories for one day. "I can't claim I had much control over Shoaib!" Fleming joked. "I'm not sure it was entirely his pride at playing for MCC, but it was an interesting perspective to watch from first slip as he opened the throttle." The embarrassment of losing to Bangladesh on his Worcestershire debut on Sunday might have provided a more pertinent incentive.

As for Lara, everyone assumed he had played at Lord's for the last time last summer, during West Indies' first Test defeat against England. And so, given another final opportunity to salute the old ground, he really cut loose. He blazed along to 42 from 27 balls before cutting into the hands of Shoaib at point to unanimous dismay, not least his own. "I always love playing at Lord's," he said afterwards, "but I'm 36 now and so all I can do is try to do my best every time." As for precise retirement plans, he couldn't be drawn. "I think I'm playing decent cricket," he said modestly after yet another renaissance series in the Caribbean. "If I become a liability to West Indies, then I'll quit."

The unfortunate intervention of an internet hoaxer forced the cancellation of Shane Warne's auctioned over to a lucky member of the public, and prompted Roger Knight, MCC's secretary, to issue his second admonitory statement in a week, after he had chastised his own members for cashing in on their ticketing privileges. But, the black-pantalooned band of Christ's Hospital School kept the public royally entertained during the interval, as did the highlights of a certain one-day knockabout, which was broadcast over the big screen to universal approval.

Ah yes, that match. Nothing was going to keep that entirely out of the limelight. As Australia's sole representative on the day, Warne was subjected to some fearsome heckling that can only have been intensified by the recent revelation that he is sporting a new barnet. "Warnie," screeched one lager-fuelled voice as he fielded on the Mound Stand boundary. "Your boys took one hell of a kicking." And all the great man could do was shrug. He knew that today, and last night, were both just infinitesimal acts in a much, much bigger picture.

But, for all the blood and guts imagery that poured forth in the papers this morning, only one was truly a matter of life and death.