Caribbean Cricket League??

[FirstStLucian]

(AP) -- Billionaire Texas businessman Allen Stanford announced a $28 million investment in West Indies cricket that he said was aimed at returning the region to its former glory in the sport.

The bulk of the money will pay for a "Caribbean Super Stars" team that will play two matches against "two world-class teams to be named" in November 2006, Stanford said Monday at a launch attended by Antigua Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer.

"This will be winner-takes-all competition and the grand prize in each match will be $5 million," Stanford said.

Stanford also announced a $6 million Stanford 20/20 tournament that will include 17 regional sides, including teams from the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. The tournament will be played over five weeks between August and September.

"We are going to find the best talent in the Caribbean and once we find the players they will go to the super league," Stanford said.

The investment includes funds for training, practice fields and equipment, financial support for players and coaches and marketing and promotion of the tournament, Stanford said.

The matches, which will be televised lived throughout the region, are aimed at boosting the quality of West Indies cricket, which has been in sharp decline over the last decade after years of dominance, Stanford said.

"We are going to create a model and platform to re-energize cricket," he said. "Cricket can no longer be a social event. You've got to bring masses of people to watch the game."

Several former West Indies cricket legend will sit on the board of the tournament, including former captains Clive Lloyd, Sir Gary Sobers, Sir Vivian Richards, Richie Richardson and Courtney Walsh.

Lloyd called Stanford's venture "potentially the single biggest private sector investment in cricket."

The teams invited to take part are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Maarten, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Stanford, of Houston, owns the Antigua-based Caribbean Star Airlines and has holdings in other ventures throughout the region.
(associated press)

[bhalistix]

its nice to see a private individual doing something that the caribbean government should have been doing a long time ago. Instead of watching year after year the West Indies cricket team become a shadow of demselves.

[terrific]

Stanford is just looking to fill his planes.

This initiative can do very little to help the WI team. To help cricket on the whole, yes, and hopefully - in five or ten years - that will help the team. But in the short term, this is all about Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun. There is NO sensible reason why St Lucia should play Jamaica in any form of cricket.

[bhalistix]

Stanford is just looking to fill his planes.

This initiative can do very little to help the WI team. To help cricket on the whole, yes, and hopefully - in five or ten years - that will help the team. But in the short term, this is all about Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun. There is NO sensible reason why St Lucia should play Jamaica in any form of cricket.

What you were hoping for an immediate fix. Well it wont take 2 month to trun around the west indies but its difinately a step in the right direction. How could you argue that it will help criket on the whole but not help the west indies? I suppose Red Stripe does sponsor cricket because they truly want to see it develop. No the want to sell BEERS.

[terrific]

O, podna, I know u smarter than u showing here.

20/20 is cricket, but NOT Test cricket. If you want a great WI 20/20 team, Stanford is your man. If you want a great Test team, this is not the way to do it, long or short term. Certainly not the best team. Sure, the English play 20/20, but they also have a well-supported first class system. Stanford will have people preparing for his "frequent flyer mile" league instead of learning to build an innings in the fiur-day game.

Tell me, if you were preparing a team for Olympic basketball, would you rather be sponsored by And1 or adidas? Would you prefer to be coached by Avery Johnson or Escalade?

And, to be clear, I do not care WHO sponsors West Indies cricket, or any aspect thereof. I know no company associates with a sports team for purely altruistic purposes - not usually, though that is often the case in St Lucia. But what if Red Stripe decided to give $1 million to put cheerleaders in cricket, for example. Sure, they would get something out of it, but how would that benfit the game? Conversely, Stanford will generate a lot of excitement about cricket per se, which is good for the game as such, but NOT about the West Indies team, NOR about West Indies cricket.

[bhalistix]

hey in case u haven't noticed cricket in the West Indies is on life support. Maybe an AND1 style game is what we need to infuse some energy back into it. You think business sponsor events out of the goodness of they heart, wake up and smell the manure you are talking. When the West Indies use to shine back in the days how many players did they have playing league ball overseas how many do they have now?