The much-looked forward charity match between legends of international cricket which was to be played before the final of the ongoing Big Bash League 09, has been canceled by Cricket Australia.

The Bushfire Cricket Bash charity game was to be played on Saturday at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), but weather forecasts of heavy rains have forced the Australian board to cancel the event.

The decision has been made in order to give the KFC BBL Final, which was set to follow the charity match, the best chance to go ahead as scheduled in front of a packed house at the SCG.

Almost 20,000 tickets were sold in just 24 hours for the game in which the two teams were to be captained by Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting respectively. Sachin Tendulkar and Courtney Walsh were named coaches of the two teams.

Yuvraj Singh and Wasim Akram confirm participation in the Bushfire Cricket Bash

Legends like Yuvraj Singh, Brian Lara, Adam Gilchrist, Brett Lee, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey amongst others had confirmed participation in the charity match.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting 30 to 50mm of rain on Saturday and the risk of rain damaging the pitch, the same pitch as the BBL Final, and the outfield during the Bushfire Cricket Bash, CA has decided to move the charity match to ensure the best conditions are possible for the BBL 09 decider.

The Bushfire Cricket Match formed part of The Big Appeal, which also includes Australia's CommBank T20I clash against England at Junction Oval and the BBL Final, with all three matches aiming to raise as much money as possible for the bushfire relief. 

(cricket.com.au inputs)