Laughing children, excited parents and a stadium filled with cartoon characters was the order of the day at the Hockey Stadium in Karachi.

Children of all ages accompanied by their parents were at the stadium to watch their favourite toons battle it out in a healthy game of cricket. Together, the two favourites of kids -- toons and cricket -- provided the children much needed fun. They had a blast forgetting all about school and homework!

The Match

At the battle between popular toons, featured the cricket legend Wasim Akram as the captain of one of the competing teams, Wasim Wascals. The other team 'Super Smashers' was captained by a young boy called Hasan Ansari. Hasan was selected to head the team after a lucky draw.

During the line up the most applause was received by Ben Ten, boy wonder and then Mojo Jojo, the evil genius from the hit series Power Puff Girls. It was interesting to note that the cricket legend received far less enthusiasm from the sea of children than the toons.

Among others, the toon cricket match featured the Flintstones --Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty. Even Dino was there along with Popeye and Olive Oyl. And, of course, Tom and Jerry playing against each other were also major attention grabbers. Also, Scooby Doo, the Power Puff Girls, Dee Dee and Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory and Johnny Bravo received wild applause.

It was interesting to see cartoons which were popular tears back along with new toons. However, seeing Flintstones in the line up one did miss the Jetsons.

A housewife, Ayesha Noman, said, "I felt so old when my four-year-old son asked me who Dino was. These cartoons are classics and they should be revived again like Scooby Doo has been revived."

The best part about the match was that the characters of the cartoons were fully exploited to add colour to the match, where Tom and Jerry continued with their eternal fight in both the innings, while Johnny Bravo employed every opportunity to flirt with Olive Oyl and even some of the married characters like Betty and Wilma (much to the anger of Fred, Barney and Popeye). Meanwhile, Mojo Jojo employed his evil genius to cheat with an electrified cricket bat. However, his schemes were foiled when the umpires caught him in the act, also catching a 40000 voltage current!

Mani as the Commentator

While there were toons playing cricket to amuse the children, Mani, the popular television presenter, was hosting the evening much to the delight of parents and other adults present on the occasion. His quips on Wasim Akram as a match fixer left people doubling up with laughter while his interestingly extensive knowledge of cartoons amused children.

Mani's jibes at other cricketers also entertained fans. For instance when, he poked fun at another cricketer for concentrating more on dandruff shampoo commercials than the sport, adults were seen nodding their heads in agreement while laughing.