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The story goes that when Texas billionaire Allen Stanford first stepped off a plane in Antigua more than a quarter-century ago, he saw airport workers playing cricket in the surrounding field and decided then and there he would build those workers a regular cricket field.
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True tale or PR spin, that same patch of pasture will play host to the biggest purse in world cricket later this year – just don’t expect to see the Antigua Airport XI running around on the lushest outfield in the Caribbean vying for their cut of $US20 million.
Starting November 1, England will face off in a series of annual one-off Twenty20 clashes against a Stanford Super Stars XI at the billionaire’s own ground in Antigua – with each of the five games personally bankrolled to the tune of $US20 million ($A21.12 million) by the Texan himself.
If the Indian Premier League and Stanford’s own Twenty20 tournament had not done so already, Wednesday’s announcement – made at Lord’s, the home of Test cricket no less – proved beyond doubt that the newest and shortest form of the game was officially cricket’s cash cow.
Stanford himself wasn’t lacking in symbolism – arriving by private helicopter at St John’s Wood, London, complete with an entourage of some of the world’s greatest former cricketers and a crateload of $50 dollar bills.
He described the games as “winner takes all”, although in reality that is just for the players.
Both the West Indies Cricket Board and England and Wales Cricket Board each stand to gain substantially, regardless of the results, sharing in $US7 million ($A7.39 million) from each game. By 2012, both the WICB and ECB would have pocketed a tidy $US17.5 million ($A18.48 million) from the venture – valuable money indeed, particularly for the struggling WICB.
The remainder will be split up amongst the winning team – $US1 million ($A1.06 million) each for the 11 players, another million to be split amongst the reserve players, and another still for the team management.
While the mega-rich game had been muted for months – and in early dispatches last year contained talk it could be against Australia – the issue of how the cash would be distributed was one of the final sticking points.
England players, in particular, were reportedly concerned about what effect playing for such high stakes would have on the team in a game where one misfield or dropped catch could cost everyone a cool million each.
West Indian captain Chris Gayle – an almost certain inclusion in Stanford’s side barring injury – for one, doesn’t see it as much of a problem.
“It’s $US20 million ($A21.12 million), somebody has to lose, you can’t kill anyone for that,” says Gayle.
“The game still goes on. Whoever wins it, they have played the better cricket.
“But if somebody drops a catch, these things happen in cricket. It’s just another game of cricket. But the money is there.”
For the players and two boards involved, there is no doubting in the benefits of such a venture.
For world cricket, time will tell.
Cricket purists yet to embrace the bash and barge of Twenty20 will see it as the further erosion of the five day game. Stanford is unabashed about his dislike of Test cricket, reiterating at the announcement “I find it boring”.
Many will also continue to ask just what is in it for the 58-year-old – who according to Forbes is worth $US2 billion ($A2.11 billion), making him the world’s 605th richest man.
And they might also question just how long the American, who has lived in the Caribbean for 26 years, will continue to pore money into the game with seemingly far less financial returns.
Stanford, himself, insists it’s to primarily help Caribbean cricket.
“This has a more charitable streak to it,” said Stanford, who first made his fortune in the 1980s in real estate before expanding his grandfather’s Stanford Financial Group into a global financial services provider with assets of $US50 billion ($A52.8 billion) worldwide.
“I’m doing things with cricket in the Caribbean that I would not ever do in any other business, marketing or branding of the Stanford financial name,” he said.
“Do we get image and brand awareness of that by today? Of course we do. But it takes a lot more money than we’ll actually probably get.”
Many a comparison has been made between Stanford and Australia’s Kerry Packer, who helped revolutionise the sport with the introduction of World Series Cricket in 1977.
Thirty years on, and Stanford’s own picturesque boutique stadium just a stone’s throw away from Antigua’s International Airport could yet herald in a new chapter of the 131-year-old game.
The ins and outs of Allen Stanford’s $US100 million ($A105.61 million) Twenty20 challenge
Who: England v Stanford Super Stars XI (West Indies select side)
What: One game a year for five years, each with a $US20 million ($A21.12 million) purse
When: November 1, 2008 (first match)
Where: Stanford Cricket Ground, AntiguaHow the money is distributed for each game:
* $US11 million ($A11.62 million): $US1 million ($A1.06 million) each to the 11 players of the winning team.
* $1m: Split amongst the reserve players of the winning team.
* $1m: Split amongst the winning team’s coaches and management.
* $US3.5 million ($A3.70 million): England and Wales Cricket Board.
* $3.5 million: West Indies Cricket Board.
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