Allen Stanford

st. john's, cmc

The proposed US$5 million Twenty20 match between the Stanford Twenty20 Super Stars and South Africa scheduled for November has been cancelled, officials confirmed yesterday.

A conflict of dates between the Super Stars' match and the West Indies' tour of Pakistan was at the heart of the decision from Allen Stanford, the Antigua-based, Texan financier and creator of the recent Stanford Twenty20 Cup. "Mr. Stanford was put in a position where he did not have a choice," remarked Rhonda Kelly, one of the organisers of the Stanford Twenty20 Cup.

"As a last ditch effort, he asked the West Indies Cricket Board if they could at least name the players that would have been on the team to Pakistan, so he can choose his team from those that were not going on the tour.

strong team

"This was also not accommo-dated by the WICB, so he did not have a strong enough team with which he could work, and he had to cancel the match."

The Super Stars' match was scheduled for November 10 in Antigua, while West Indies are due to arrive in Pakistan on November 7 and begin the first Test against their hosts four days later.

Stanford made the announce-ment on Wednesday to a group of 20 players that had been selected to prepare for the match.

"He is extremely saddened because it is not something that he wanted to do," Kelly said. The players reportedly have started to return to their homes early yesterday.

Kelly disclosed that Stanford and the board of directors that include 13 legends of West Indies cricket will meet on Monday to plan the way forward.