It was a rare congregation of some of the finest fast bowlers cricket has seen and they were present as part of the celebrations to mark the testimonial year for Courtney Walsh, one of their colleagues in the "300 Club". Though there are 13 members in this exclusive club, only eight turned up.

The seven who came over to join Walsh were Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Malcolm Marshall, Wasim Akram, Curtley Ambrose, Bob Willis and Lance Gibbs. And amongst the five who did not were Ian Botham and Imran Khan -- and it would have been quite a sight having the duo in the same room. The remaining three were Dennis Lillee, Shane Warne, who spent the Thursday evening with Don Bradman on the great man's 90th birthday and Fred Trueman, the first Test bowler to reach the 300-wicket mark.

The guests at the dinner included the likes of cricket-crazy former Prime Minister John Major, and comedian Rory Bremner, who was the guest speaker.

The occasion, however, did spark off a debate. Matthew Engel, editor of Wisden and an admirer of the extremely affable Walsh, wrote: "That while everyone would agree that if successful cricketers should be recipients of charity, then Courtney Walsh -- a brilliant performer, chivalrous opponent, great team man -- is worth it. But they should not be getting charity: the benefit system that forces them onto it is an outrage and a disgrace. They should be paid handsomely for their exploits. Charity should be for those in need."

"At present lucky players get charity. So when a son of the game gets unlucky, everyone is too busy to raise the money he needs. This scandal shames cricket."