Tony Becca
THE STANFORD 20/20 got off to a great start in St. John's on Tuesday afternoon and benefactor Allen Stanford and his 14 legends, from former West Indies greats like Everton Weekes to one like Ian Bishop, must be feeling happy and satisfied.
Although I am one of those who believe that a man spends his money where he wants to spend it and how he wants to spend it, I am also one of those who still believes that in the interest of West Indies cricket, looking at the development of West Indies cricket, Stanford's US$28 million, or based on where it has reached, his US$36 million, could have been better spent than funding 20/20 cricket.
In other words, Stanford could have spent some of it on his 20/20 showpiece and some of it on the regional four-day and one-day versions of the game.
Regardless of whose money it is, it just seems lavish to award a man US$25,000 for coming away as the man of the match in a 20-over contest so, too, to award a man US$10,000 for something like one outstanding catch or one brilliant stumping in a match, more so to award the winning team US$1 million, and even more so, to hand US$5 million to the winners of a match between an All Star team and South Africa.
SPREADING THE GOSPEL
Development starts many places, however, there is no question about it, part of development is spreading the gospel of the game and getting people to support the game and that, based on his words, is how Stanford and his legends hope to assist in the development of West Indies cricket.
"Twenty20 cricket is the entertainment version of the game," said Stanford a few days ago, "and my vision is that the Stanford 20/20 will be the catalyst for a resurgence of the love for the game - that it will signal a return to the glory days."
If that is so, then so be it; and if that is so, based on the response of the players and fans on the first two days, the Stanford 20/20 is heading for a huge success.
The teams in action on the first two nights were the US Virgin Islands and St. Maarten, Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands and St. Lucia, and although, with USVI boasting three and St. Maarten two, Cayman Islands four and the Bahamas six, including one aged 46, one at 48, and one at 49, there were many players over 40, many close to 40 and only a few below 25, the proof will be when the Test players, the big boys from the big teams, bow in to action.
BRILLIANT CATCH
The players, all of them, including 41-year-old Garfield Armstrong of the Bahamas who, running in from the mid-wicket boundary under lights, dived forward and took a brilliant, award-winning catch, Saheed Moham-med and Pearson Best of the Cayman Islands, who shared a third-wicket partnership of 144 in 12.2 overs with the 42-year-old Best out of Barbados striking nine fours and three sixes while scoring 74 off 40 deliveries, and 41-year-old Jamaican-born Kanute Tulloch who took five for 21 bowling for the Cayman Islands, looked as if they were enjoying themselves and although the batting, generally, was weak, and the fielding, in most cases, equally so, they certainly gave it their best shot in their efforts, not only to win some big bucks, but also to win back the fans.
And the fans themselves, men and women, boys and girls, were great. They packed out the cricket ground, they cheered all afternoon and all night long, and all in all, they presented a lovely sight of cricket in the Caribbean.
So far, so good, and hopefully the big boys from Barbados, Antigua, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica will add to spectacle so that the fans will continue to enjoy the sound of bat hitting ball and will return, in the remaining days of the tournament and for days and days after that, to hear more of it.
Who's to tell, many of the fans who followed the piper to the Stanford 20/20 will become fans of cricket to the extent that they will turn out to watch the regional and international matches, and who to tell, because of their baptism to the game, one of those little boys, and little girls, either in the arms of their mothers and fathers or running around the ground, may one day wear the maroon cap - and with distinction at that.
