Stanford 20/20 Returns in January 2008
Officials representing Texan billionaire Allen Stanford have indicated that the next regional 20/20 tournament will be held in January 2008 at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua, and they have promised that it will be even bigger and better this time around.An additional three countries have confirmed their participation in the tournament, joining the 19 territories from last year in the Stanford 20-20 programme. They are Turks & Caicos Islands, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
According to the organisers, the format for the tournament will remain the same as in 2006 -- a single elimination knockout competition with a base of seeded teams. The schedule will be decided by random draw and the prize money remains the same.
The organisers are also currently in discussions with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) regarding the Stanford Super Stars programme, which will again be in place for the next tournament.
While they were unable to provide any more details, indications are that all the players who will be participating in the January 2008 Stanford 20-20 tournament will be eligible for selection to the Super Stars team.
Although the tournament schedule has been agreed on in principle with the West Indies Cricket Board, the exact dates for each game will be announced at a later time.
LEGENDS
The Stanford legends programme, which resumed in May after the 2007 Cricket World Cup, will continue to be used as a resource to assist in the preparations of the various territories.
Contact is currently being made with the cricket associations and boards in the various participating territories as regards visits by the legends, a prominent feature of the inaugural tournament held in July/August last year.
At the moment, the individual territories are requesting from the Stanford organisers specific time periods when they would prefer to have the legends conduct their visits, which will also include specialised coaching and training stints.
The legends have been assigned as follows:
- BVI and USVI – Desmond Haynes
- Jamaica and Anguilla – Gordon Greenidge
- The Bahamas – Courtney Walsh
- Grenada and Dominica – Joel Garner
- Turks & Caicos Islands and Puerto Rico – Lance Gibbs
- Montserrat and St. Vincent & the Grenadines – Curtly Ambrose
- St. Maarten and the Dominican Republic – Andy Roberts
- St. Kitts & Nevis – Richie Richardson
- Bermuda and Guyana – Sir Vivian Richards
- Cayman Islands and Antigua – Ian Bishop
- Barbados – Sir Everton Weekes
- Trinidad & Tobago – Rev. Wes Hall
- St. Lucia – Sir Garfield Sobers
TV SHOW
One of the most exciting additions to the next tournament will be a bi-weekly television show about the Stanford 20-20 programme and all of the countries which will be involved.
This is expected to begin airing in late June/early July, and will feature interesting facts and information about the different Stanford 20-20 countries, characters involved in cricket around the region, stars from the inaugural tournament, and the legends.
The production will also feature stories about players who have fascinating or interesting jobs outside of playing cricket, as well as stories about players who have overcome obstacles such as poverty, injuries or handicaps to become cricketers.
FUNDING
Sir Allen has also indicated that he will continue his support for grass roots cricket with the extension of the monthly funding of US$15,000 for each of the territorial cricketing bodies.
This figure represents a total of US$10,000 for support of coaches and players and US $5,000 for maintenance of equipment and facilities.
All the countries which were deemed “compliant” with regard to their financial accounts as of the end of last year should have received their disbursements up until December 2006.
Funding for January to March 2007 is being released only to those countries that are in compliance.