London: Cricket for children? Yes, but it’s a cricket tournament involving 16 top corporate firms from IT and finance sectors that will raise funds for children. The UK branch of Child Relief and You, a non-governmental organisation working with underprivileged children, has come up with the unique combination of cricket, children, charity and corporate sector to raise funds for programmes in India. The CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge is an initiative of CRY UK, which raises funds for its work with children in Britain and India. Indian heavyweights like NIIT, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, TCS, ICICI Bank, Satyam Computers and other biggies like Dresdner Kleinwort, Infotech, Covansys, iGate, iFlex Solutions, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and London Business School are taking part in the tournament that started on June 23. It is played on consecutive Saturdays and the final will be held on July 14 at Regent’s Park in London. Funds raised from the cricket tournament will be used to support special needs children in West Bengal and Orissa. Also, 15 per cent of the funds raised would be donated to Helen House Children’s Hospice in Oxfordshire. A similar event organised last year raised £34,000 for CRY. CRY-UK fundraising manager Nina Munshi, commenting on the fundraising tournament, said: "The CRY Cadence Corporate Cricket Challenge is a true global event that engages individuals to support a cause in India. The idea is to work toward breaking social barriers such as caste, class, religion and gender that hamper the development of underprivileged children. If each one of us pledges to stand up for child rights and volunteers our time, a successful India is not an impossible dream." Richard Hastings, information technology director, Cadence, which is sponsoring the event, said: "The money raised this year will benefit not only CRY projects in India but also Britain. This year we have expanded our programme to support the Helen House Hospice." CRY UK has adopted three projects in India for which it raises funds in the UK and has over 50 volunteers currently to harness local resources and direct them towards the cause of underprivileged children.