The Stanford Superstars made the quickest US$1 million of any group of cricketers in history after thrashing England by 10 wickets in the Stanford Twenty20 finale on Saturday.
Chasing a target of just 100 runs, the Superstars, a collection of experienced and promising West Indian players, pulverised England with more than seven overs to spare.
Superstars captain Chris Gayle had the privilege of hitting the winning runs, when he lofted Andrew Flintoff for the last of his five sixes in an unbeaten 65 off 45 balls over long-on to spark tumultuous celebrations around the Stanford Cricket Ground.
PHOTO: AFP
The victory meant that all members of the Superstars XI became instant millionaires, pocketing exactly US$1 million each.
Meanwhile a further US$1 million was split between the Superstars squad players who didn’t play on Saturday and the victorious coaching staff.
The remaining prize money in the US$20 million pot will be shared between the the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
But the England team got nothing after losing this winner-takes-all clash.
There had been much talk from both within and outside the England camp about the correctness of a national side taking part in an “exhibition” match for such a staggering sum.
And series backer Allen Stanford was forced to apologize after being pictured with Emily Prior, the pregnant wife of England wicket-keeper Matt, sitting on his knee during a warm-up match last weekend.
England captain Kevin Pietersen said the “nonsense” had been a distraction.
“During the week we haven’t been concentrating on the cricket, there’s been a lot of nonsense during the week and we haven’t concentrated on the cricket,” Pietersen told Sky Sports.
Officials at the ECB have signed a five-year contract with Stanford for the team’s participation in this event and Pietersen added: “We’re going to have to buy into the competition a lot more.”
Stanford, the man behind the Caribbean’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, said he hoped this victory would provide a springboard for renewed West Indies success at the international level.
“Three years ago we started an experiment to get young kids who were going elsewhere back into cricket and to reward the best players in the Caribbean for their professional skills,” the Antigua-based Texan said.
“We’re doing it, the results are here tonight. We will beat anybody in the world with this team. We are back, we’re going to take the world again. This program is working,” he said.
England had been dismissed for just 99 in one ball short of their permitted 20 overs, after choosing to bat under the lights on a hard, easy-paced pitch.
Andre Fletcher, who finished on 32 not out, smashed four consecutive boundaries off Stuart Broad in the second over of the Superstars’ innings.
Gayle subsequently destroyed Stephen Harmison in a sensational fifth over that cost England’s premier fast bowler 22 runs and concluded with the Test left-hander middling two straight hits for six.
Earlier, England’s batsmen paid a heavy price for cavalier batting against mean, purposeful bowling supported by sharp fielding.
Samit Patel’s 22 was the top score in an innings where only two other batsmen — Matt Prior (12) and Paul Collingwood (10) — got to double figures.
Man-of-the-match Darren Sammy took two wickets to get rid of Owais Shah, brilliantly caught in the deep by Dave Mohammed, and Pietersen, who was bowled round his legs for just seven by the medium-pacer.
The fixture brought the curtain down on the inaugural Super Series, which also featured Trinidad and Tobago, the reigning Caribbean Twenty20 champions and their English counterparts Middlesex.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RSS