CATEGORY:SPORTS
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By Wallace J.A (Inside Grenada correspondent)

GRENADA – The much talked about Stanford 20/20 Super Star cricket match between West Indies and South Africa, scheduled for November 10, 2006, has been officially cancelled. Mr. Allan Stanford took this decision as a result of a scheduling conflict with the West Indies tour to Pakistan later on this year.

Riding on a phenomenal wave of success experienced during the inaugural Stanford 20/20 Tournament, in which the winning team (Guyana) received a whopping US $1,000,000.00, billionaire Allan Stanford made the decision to move on to the second phase of his tournament. This phase envisioned a West Indies Super Star team, handpicked by the Legends of W.I. cricket, coming up against a South African team at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua on November 10. The winner of this game was expected to receive a pay cheque for a mind-boggling US $5,000,000.00.

According to Mr. Stanford, the WICB and the International Cricket Council (ICC) approved the Super Star cricket match between the West Indies and South Africa back in January of this year. Subsequent to that, plans were put in place to have the best West Indian Cricketers emerging from the regional 20/20 tournament representing the West Indies in this Super Star match. Later on, however, things went sour between the WICB and Allan Stanford when it was revealed that the West Indies is scheduled to play its first test match against Pakistan commencing on November 11, which means that Stanford would be without the services of some key West Indian players. With US$5,000,000.00 at stake, any team short of the best possible players would not do justice to Mr. Stanford who has ploughed some US$28m into Caribbean cricket.

Mr. Stanford indicated that the decision to cancel the 20/20 super star match was a very difficult one to make but it was done after receipt of a letter dated August 25 from the WICB stating that there was absolutely nothing that could be done with the dates for the Pakistan tour. Subsequently, the South Africans were informed about Mr. Stanford’s decision, agreements with suppliers were cancelled, the Super Star squad that were training in Antigua were informed and the camp was discontinued because of the ‘irresolvable’ issue with the Pakistan tour dates.

As if the drama was not enough, events took on a new twist when, according to an article on the WICB website dated September 01, the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) expressed a sudden willingness to ‘bend over backwards’ to facilitate the Stanford 20/20 game against South Africa. Commenting on this development, Mr. Ken Gordon, President of the WICB stated that “…This is very good news to me as we have tried to keep our commitment to do all within our power to shift the tour dates. In fact, I wrote several letters to the PCB and clearly these have finally swayed the Pakistan Board in our favor. As soon as I get formal confirmation of the PCB's decision, I will convey it to Mr. Stanford. I hope it is not too late to reinstate the game against South Africa."

In responding to this information, Mr. Stanford indicated that at this stage, it would be unprofessional to reinstate the game to accommodate what appears to be a lack of efficiency and miscommunication on the part of the WICB.

The cancellation of this Stanford 20/20 Super Star game has no doubt come as a major disappointment for most, if not all, of the young cricketers who were in training in preparation for the game. Cricket lovers and enthusiasts from both sides of the Atlantic would indubitably harbor similar sentiments.