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Stanford Superstars win US 20 mil purse |
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Tuesday, 11 November 2008 |
On the back of purposeful bowling, agile fielding, and aggressive batting, they convincingly crushed England by 10 wickets in the Stanford Twenty20 match for US $20 million on Saturday at the Stanford Cricket Ground.
The Superstars dismissed England for 99 in 19.5 overs, and then hit the jackpot with 44 balls remaining, when their captain Chris Gayle hit the winning runs, a lofted drive off Andrew Flintoff for the last of his five sixes in an unbeaten 65 off 45 balls.
The victory meant that each member of the Superstars’ final 11 pockets US $1 million with another US $1 million shared by the six non-playing squad members, and a further US $1 million among the management team.
The remaining prize money will be shared between the England & Wales Cricket Board and the West Indies Cricket Board.
The Superstars bowled purposefully and fielded sharply to put the skids under England, after the visitors won the toss and chose to bat under the lights on a hard, easy-paced pitch.
Sulieman Benn was the most successful Superstars bowler with three wickets for 16 runs from 3.5 overs.
Darren Sammy, later named Man-of-the-Match, Jerome Taylor, and Kieron Pollard – all collected two scalps.
Samit Patel’s 22 from 23 balls was the top score in the England innings, and only two other batsmen reached double figures – Matt Prior made 12, and Paul Collingwood got 10.
Gayle and fellow Superstars opener Andre Fletcher started nervously, and both could have been run out in the first two overs.
When Fletcher smashed Chris Broad for consecutive boundaries off the last three balls of the second over of the innings – a lofted drive over extra cover, a pull over mid-wicket, and a cut through square cover – the balance of power shifted decisively.
Gayle looked unsteady, but he uncoiled in the fifth over of the innings bowled by Steve Harmison, when he struck 4, 6, 6 off the last three balls of the over that cost England’s leading bowler 22 runs.
Gayle continued to entertain a capacity crowd that also included former World No.1 pro golfer Vijay Singh of Fiji – a guest of Sir Allen Stanford in the VIP box – and Fletcher kept his head, and ended on 32 not out from 31 balls.
The match brought the curtain down on the inaugural Stanford Super Series which was conceptualized by American business tycoon Sir Allan Stanford, and given the blessings of the West Indies Cricket Board and the England & Wales Cricket Board.
The Series also involved Trinidad & Tobago, the reigning champions of the Stanford Twenty20 Cup in the Caribbean, and Middlesex, the reigning champions of the England Twenty20 Cup.
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