2008 Stanford Super Series

The 2008 Stanford Super Series was a cricket tournament sponsored by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford. The tournament was played between 25 October – 1 November consisting of 5 warm-up matches and a US$20 million for the grand finale. This final match was played between the Stanford Superstars and England. Before it began, the tournament was threatened with cancellation due to a row between Digicel, the West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) main sponsor, and Stanford. Digicel argued that it should get sponsorship rights because it is WICB's sponsorship rights holder and that the tournament was officially sanctioned by the WICB.

2008 Stanford Super Series
Administrator(s)West Indies Cricket Board and Allen Stanford
Cricket formatTwenty20
Tournament format(s)One-off match with warm-up matches
Host(s)Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda
ChampionsStanford Superstars
Participants4
Matches6
Most runsAndre Fletcher (147)
Most wicketsSherwin Ganga (6)

All 2008 Super Series matches took place at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua, and started at 5:30 pm local time (9:30 pm in the United Kingdom). All games were aired on Sky Sports in the UK.[1]

Qualification

The Stanford Superstars was a squad selected from the best players in the Stanford 20/20 competition. England competed in the first year of a five-year contract to be involved in the tournament. Trinidad and Tobago qualified as the winners of the Stanford 20/20 whilst Middlesex Crusaders qualified as winners of the Twenty20 Cup in England and Wales.

Summary

The tournament was seen to have been commenced successfully, though pitch conditions meant that its opening matches were low-scoring.[2] Criticism was also levelled at the floodlights in the Antigua pitch, which were low enough to obstruct the vision of fielding players, with Middlesex captain Shaun Udal stating "I have not known a ground where the visibility is as bad".[3] The behaviour of organiser Allen Stanford was also questioned, particularly after he offended a number of England players by acting flirtatiously with their wives during a match, actions for which he later apologised[4] The England team was later hit by a stomach bug, leading Kevin Pietersen to declare that he was looking forward to the tournament's completion.[5] Before the tournament ended, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that they would be reviewing the five-year contract that they had signed with Stanford, bringing into question their participation in future tournaments[6]

However, the Trinidad and Tobago v England game was described as 'thrilling'.[7] The tournament received a large amount of media coverage whilst it was extremely popular with fans in the West Indies.[8] Commentators were generally positive about the success of the tournament within its host venue, with Jonathan Agnew claiming that it was organised significantly better than the previous World Cup, also held in the West Indies.[9]

Matches

Exhibition Matches

25 October 2008
scorecard
Stanford Superstars
146/5 (20 overs)
v
 Trinidad & Tobago
124/8 (20 overs)
Superstars won by 22 runs
Stanford Cricket Ground, Coolidge, Antigua
Umpires: Steve Davis and Simon Taufel

26 October 2008
scorecard
England 
121/4 (20 overs)
v
Middlesex
109/4 (20 overs)
England won by 12 runs
Stanford Cricket Ground, Coolidge, Antigua
Umpires: Asad Rauf and Rudi Koertzen

28 October 2008
scorecard
England 
141/6 (20 overs)
v
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago
140/9 (20 overs)
England won by 1 run
Stanford Cricket Ground, Coolidge, Antigua
Umpires: Asad Rauf and Simon Taufel

30 October 2008
scorecard
Stanford Superstars
173/4 (20 overs)
v
Middlesex
115 (17.3 overs)
Superstars win by 58 runs
Stanford Cricket Ground, Coolidge, Antigua
Umpires: Asad Rauf and SJ Davis

Trans-Atlantic Twenty20 Champions Cup

27 October 2008
scorecard
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago
122/5 (19.2 overs)
v
Middlesex
117/8 (20 overs)
Trinidad and Tobago won by 5 wickets
Stanford Cricket Ground, Coolidge, Antigua
Umpires: Steve Davis and Rudi Koertzen
Player of the match: Ravi Rampaul

$20 million match

1 November 2008
scorecard
England 
99 (19.5 overs)
v
Stanford Superstars
101/0 (12.4 overs)
Stanford Superstars won by 10 wickets
Stanford Cricket Ground, Coolidge, Antigua
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Simon Taufel
Player of the match: Darren Sammy

Squads

2008 Stanford SuperStars

On 14 August 2008, the All-Stars selection panel, which was led by cricketing legend Sir Viv Richards, and which included fellow West Indies cricketing luminaries as Sir Everton Weekes, Curtly Ambrose, Lance Gibbs, Richie Richardson, Andy Roberts and Courtney Walsh, announced 17 players who would play under the Stanford SuperStars colours in the Super Series.[10]

Jamaica Chris Gayle (c)
Jamaica Daren Powell
Jamaica Jerome Taylor
Antigua and Barbuda Sylvester Joseph (Vice-captain)
Antigua and Barbuda Chad Hampson
Trinidad and Tobago Dave Mohammed
Trinidad and Tobago Kieron Pollard
Trinidad and Tobago Rayad Emrit
Guyana Ramnaresh Sarwan
Guyana Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Guyana Lennox Cush
Grenada Andre Fletcher
Barbados Sulieman Benn
Montserrat Lionel Baker
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Lindon James

Support Staff:
Antigua and Barbuda Coach, Head: Eldine Baptiste
Guyana Coach, Asst: Roger Harper
England Coach, Fielding: Julien Fountain
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Coach, Manager: Cardigan Connor
Guyana Analyst: Robin Singh
Cuba Trainer: Hector Martinez
England Physiotherapist: Kim Jackson
Cuba Physiotherapist Julio Gonsalves
Saint Kitts and Nevis Physical Therapist: Virgil Browne

(Dwayne Bravo Trinidad and Tobago (injury), and Xavier Marshall Jamaica (failed drug test)[11] were named to the initial team under the initial selection procedures, but withdrew before the Series was played. Darren Sammy Saint Lucia and Travis Dowlin Guyana were named to replace them in the squad.[12])

2008 English squad

On 9 September 2008, three weeks after the Superstars squad was named, the England Cricket Board announced their 15-man squad for the 2008 Super Series.[13]

Kevin Pietersen, Hampshire, (captain)
James Anderson, Lancashire
Ian Bell, Warwickshire
Ravi Bopara, Essex
Stuart Broad, Nottinghamshire
Paul Collingwood, Durham
Alastair Cook, Essex
Andrew Flintoff, Lancashire
Stephen Harmison, Durham
Samit Patel, Nottinghamshire
Matt Prior, Sussex
Owais Shah, Middlesex
Graeme Swann, Nottinghamshire
Ryan Sidebottom, Nottinghamshire
Luke Wright, Sussex

2008 Trinidad and Tobago squad

Rishi Bachan
Samuel Badree
Darren Bravo
Kevon Cooper
Daron Cruickshank
Daren Ganga (captain)
Sherwin Ganga
Justin Guillen
Amit Jaggernauth
Richard Kelly
William Perkins
Denesh Ramdin
Ravi Rampaul
Lendl Simmons
Navin Stewart

2008 Middlesex squad

Neil Carter
Neil Dexter
Steven Finn
Billy Godleman
Tyron Henderson
Ed Joyce
Murali Kartik
Dawid Malan
Eoin Morgan
Tim Murtagh
David Nash
Alan Richardson
Ben Scott
Andrew Strauss
Shaun Udal (captain)

Commercial dispute

Digicel, who sponsors the West Indies Cricket Board, filed suit to halt the Stanford Super Series. They claimed that due to their deal with the West Indies Cricket Board, that they were due certain advertising and broadcasting rights that weren't being granted to them. The response from the West Indies Board, and from the representatives of the Super Series was that the Stanford Superstars were an unofficial team, and thus the Digicel agreement did not come into play. Digicel won the suit, in front of the High Court in London, England. However, they later reached a deal with Stanford Super Series officials, that allowed the tournament to continue for at least three years.[14]

References

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