England and Australia players unite to raise funds for Brisbane flood victims

Rising to the occasion: Chris Tremlett has been one of the stars of England's tourPhoto: PA

By Peter English in Brisbane4:32PM GMT 28 Jan 2011

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The players have given money to the massive recovery effort Kevin Pietersen alone raised 31,800 in an online auction but they remain desperate to pick the hosts' pockets and stay in the series.

"Your heart goes out to the people who were affected but the job at hand is to play against Australia and play a tough cricket match," said England fast bowler Chris Tremlett. "On the field we'll be going as hard as any game."

Tremlett and his team-mates were moved by the devastation and the fifth one-day international has turned into a major fund-raising event to support the victims. The floods in south-east Queensland a fortnight ago left 22 dead and an estimated damage bill of 2.5 billion.

"They were pretty shocking pictures," Tremlett said. "Once you've seen that, you get a little bit emotional and upset. I'm glad that things have got back to a sense of normality even though there's a clean-up job to do too. Hopefully we can play some sort of part on Sunday."

In Brisbane, 12,000 houses were submerged by the city's major river and 15,000 flooded, but the Gabba was not damaged and the curator, Kevin Mitchell Jnr, expects a traditional fast and true surface. "It's almost surreal being here and it seems like nothing has happened," Tremlett said.