The public reaction in Britain to the unimaginable horror of the Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 was generous, but cricket’s especially so. In particular, MCC and Surrey responded with imagination and philanthropy.

Brit Insurance sponsored Surrey to organise a high-profile charity match at the Oval between Asia and the Rest of the World in 2005. It raised an extraordinary sum of £1 million, spawning a specific charity, The Oval Cricket Relief Trust, with a mission to assist victims of natural and man-made disasters in any area of the world with cricketing interests.

The Surrey Cricket Village in Maggona, 20 miles south of the centre of Colombo, was officially opened before the second Test, a development of 45 new houses for families most seriously hit by the tragedy of lost lives. Alongside lies a handsome new cricket ground, built on the same generous scale as the Brit Oval itself.

MCC’s post-tsunami fundraising efforts culminate tomorrow with the official opening of the MCC Centre of Excellence and another new facility, the Sri Sumangala College Cricket Ground, in Hikkaduwa, near Galle. Mike Brearley, the president, will be among several speech-makers before facing the first ball (“strictly that ball only”, he says) in a Twenty20 match against a local team. The club will be led by Keith Bradshaw, its chief executive, once of Tasmania and still a highly competitive all-round cricketer.

More than £650,000 was raised by MCC through a match at Lord’s, also in 2005, which featured 22 of the world’s best players. Charities and organisations to benefit included the British Red Cross, Leonard Cheshire, Sri Lanka Cricket and The Foundation of Goodness, the movement that had been quietly supported by Muttiah Muralitharan even before he came within 20 minutes of being swept away by that ghastly wave.