THE INAUGURAL Stanford Twenty/20 cricket tournament has received the blessings of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
Late last year WICB president Ken Gordon said they were deliberately kept in the dark about plans for the Stanford 20/20 tournament.
Gordon at the time said the WICB was not invited to be involved in the planning of the tournament.
However, he has changed his stance since and admitted: "It's Mr. Stanford's money, and if that's how he wants to spend it he's free to do so. I certainly feel the longer term objectives of cricket might be better served with that kind of investment."
But Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire who is running the tournament with his money - US$28m - admitted yesterday that they deliberately kept the WICB in the dark because they didn't need the involvement of cricket's regional governing body for that phase.
Commenting on their position to neglect the WICB, Stanford, who flew in on his private jet with four WI legends then departed after, said: "I don't think it's in the best interest to work with them (WICB) in that vein.
"I think it's better for me to spend my money the way I see it, obviously with the legends to give me direction," he explained.
Sanford's main mission here was to hand over the first tranche of US$100,000 to the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA) to aid the game's development here ahead of the Twenty/20 tournament. They are to receive US$280,000 in total.
HELP WHERE IT MATTERS
He also admitted that they will only need the WICB's help where it matters and the first step was to get the tournament on the calendar.
"If we are going to play a tournament with 19 teams we needed to get it on the calendar and we got approval for that," he noted.
Another reason for teaming up with the Windies Board, Stanford said, is to make sure the tournament is sanctioned by the ICC. That has to be done through the WICB.
He said this was also agreed on and now "we can go out and buy the England or South Africa, Australia or India to come to Antigua at the Stanford cricket ground to play our one night 20-over match around about this time next year".
Stanford, who is based in Antigua, added: "So that was accomplished and I think the most important thing that was accomplished was an agreement.
-Anthony Foster
