England cricketers to help Calcutta welfare home
England's Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) is to support a welfare home for poor children in Calcutta, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Tuesday.
The PCA will contribute 240 pounds (16,800 rupees) each year to help finance 10 children at the home in the eastern Indian city, ECB press officer Andrew Walpole told Reuters.
"This is a good, charitable initiative and everyone wanted to do their best to help," he said.
England captain Nasser Hussain and five team-mates visited the home on Tuesday in the Salt Lake area of Calcutta, where England play their first game in a six-match one-day series against India on Saturday.
Hussain, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, fast bowler Matthew Hoggard, batsmen Michael Vaughan and Owais Shah and left-arm spinner Ashley Giles played cricket with some of the children at the home, which is known as SOS Village.
Australia captain Steve Waugh has supported children at another Calcutta welfare organisation in the past.
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Mail Cricket Editor
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