Billionaire businessman Allen Stanford said Twenty20 cricket could replace soccer as the world's leading team sport after announcing a series of US$20 million matches between England and his Caribbean Super Stars side.
“With the right financial support behind it, the right vision, it can be the dominant team sport in the world,” Stanford told a news conference at Lord’s on Wednesday.
“I think Twenty20 combines almost all the elements of all sports: soccer, basketball, baseball, it even has track and field in it,” he said.
PHOTO: AFP
The first of five annual floodlit Twenty20 matches between Stanford’s Super Stars and England will take place at his own ground in Antigua on Nov. 1.
Players on the winning side will earn US1 million each — a huge sum by cricket standards. However, members of the losing team will not get anything.
Of the remaining US$9 million being put up by Stanford, US1 million will be divided among the rest of the winning squad and a further US$1 million will go to the victorious coaching team.
The other US$7 million will be shared between the cash-strapped West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Over the course of five years, a player on the winning side in all the games could earn US$5 million, while both boards are guaranteed a minimum of US$17.5 million each.
“The winner goes home happy, the loser goes home unhappy,” said Stanford, who arrived at Lord’s in his own private helicopter.
These matches are effectively exhibition games, as England are not playing the West Indies, although ECB chief executive Davi Collier said they were “unofficial but authorized” by the International Cricket Council.
Stanford, a Texan who became a citizen of Antigua and Barbuda, has already invested heavily in a domestic Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies which now features his trademark all-black bats.
He denied he was simply giving money away. “I’m investing in cricket’s future in the West Indies. We’re in a bit of a trough and I want to do everything I can to bring it back up.”
Former West Indies captain Vivian Richards, one of Stanford’s advisers, added he was sure the matches would be competitive.
“We believe we have the product to do it justice. We wouldn’t like you guys to come to the Caribbean and take it [the money] back to England,” Richards said.
Twenty20 has grown rapidly in global popularity since being launched as a professional sport at county level in England six years ago and spawned its own world championship, won by India in South Africa last year.
In India, the first edition of a new, lucrative Twenty20 tournament was recently concluded, but Stanford said he believed English officials were best-placed to help him realize his Twenty20 vision.
“The ECB have the best organization and the best management to drive cricket into the 21st century,” he said.
Meanwhile ECB chairman Giles Clarke denied his organization’s involvement was a way of placating England cricketers, who might otherwise earn big money in matches beyond the board’s control.
“We are not trying to appease them,” he said.
“It gives them a chance to perform under pressure and to make money beyond the dreams of some of their predecessors,” Clarke told an audience that included West Indies cricket greats Everton Weekes, Garfield Sobers and Curtly Ambrose.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was