The Stanford 20/20 Cricket tournament has drawn in eighteen teams from nine countries and is also attracting attention throughout the international cricketing fraternity. The tournament is underway in Antigua, sponsored by the Antigua-based American billionaire Allen Stanford. Top prize for the winning team is a million dollars with huge cash awards for the outstanding players. It has been compared to the Kerry Packer series of the 1970s - controversial though that was. Tony Cozier However, noted West Indian cricket commentator and writer Tony Cozier feels it could be what West Indies cricket needs now. “It can bring an injection on capital which we see being brought into the game for the Stanford 20/20. “It is not only the prize money that is offering (sic) to the players and the team…he is also ploughing a great deal of money, necessary money, into infrastructure.” It is a point of view which is shared by Percy Sonn, the incoming president of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Welcome benefactor “I don’t think that the ICC should have any problems…Any benefactor who assists with us attaining our goals into the future of cricket will be welcome,” Mr Sonn said. Tony Cozier also feels that the current West Indies team, battling to regain its former glory, could take a lesson from the enthusiasm of the smaller teams in the tournament. “Imagine if the West Indies cricket played with the intensity…that we saw in the early rounds from the USVI, from the Caymans…the real armatures of West Indies cricket have responded to this idea,” he said. The Stanford Cricket tournament is continuing until August 13th. Reprinted from bbccaribbean.com