Tym Glaser, Associate Sport Editor

SECTIONS OF the English press are outraged; utterly outraged I tell ya.

You see, they have only just discovered that US$20 million is a lot of money to play for in a single match of no real consequence - outside of the booty.

They are up in arms as the England and Wales Cricket Board and, by natural extension, the England players have 'prostituted themselves' and 'sold their souls' to mega-rich Texan, Sir Allen Stanford, who masterminded tonight's 20/20 for 20 winner-take-all game at the Stanford Cricket Ground (or little SCG, as we like to call it).

Yes, those hookers (and I don't mean cross-batted strokeplayers) at the board have, for US$3.5 million per year for five years, sold out the game and all of a sudden Sir Allen has become evil incarnate, according to those fleet of mind if not street any more.

"Stanford should have been investigated before the deal was signed" and "the whole board should resign" are some of the quieter protestations.

But, where was this howl of anguish a couple of months ago when Sir Allen and a cadre of his Legends helicoptered in to London and flashed open a treasure chest with US$20 million worth or crisp greenbacks?

Moral outage?

Why is it now, as the tournament is reaching its zenith, that this moral outage has bubbled over?

I know the economy is in worse shape than my waistline, but US$20 million was still a lot of money a couple of months ago too.

Maybe, it's not the amount, but the source they are uncomfortable with.

I know America is, or was, a rich country, but I'm pretty sure it's hard for a billionaire to fly under the spotlight of investigative glare and I have never heard of any nefarious acts by 'Big Al'.

Maybe They Who Must Write don't like it because he purchased their national team for a week and a bit to promote himself.

That has manifested itself all over the tabloids when the big fella was seen with one of the players wives on his lap and two WAGS (Wives and Girlfriends) by his side, whooping it up for all of about 10 seconds during the England-Middlesex game.

Now, if it was my significant other on his lap, I wouldn't be too impressed. If she was also pregnant, as Mrs Matt Prior was, I would be a little upset.

That most famous of English cricketers, Unnamed Player, said he would have thumped Sir Al if it was his WAG. I wonder if he'll give Stanford a good, old biff tonight if England win the booty and he collects his cheque.

Sir Allen, who's never seen a camera he didn't like, made a poor decision and promptly apologised to Prior and the England captain, Kevin Pietersen, but he should really have said sorry to the English press because now he's become womanising 'Sir Sleazy' over the most boring lap dance in world history.

One-off game

I agree, US$20 million is an obscene amount of money to win in a one-off game of any description, but it's his money to spend and he can do whatever he likes with it.

If England don't like how it's all panning out - stay home next time; I'm sure teams like Australia and South Africa would be more than happy to fill the void.

Is Stanford a huge self-promoter? Absolutely, but it's his yard and he can do as he pleases.

Does he have a hidden agenda as respected people like Mikey Holding, a former Legend, suggest? Perhaps, but I have no idea what it is - if there is one, and bringing people back to the game of cricket while pumping US$3.5 million each into the coffers of the West Indies and England boards can't be bad for the sport.

My great fear about all this is from the West Indian perspective and if the team should win tonight's match.

A million bucks in the hands of the likes of Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Jerome Taylor would make them financially strong enough (if they aren't already) to break or buy out their contracts with the WICB and chose when and where they play.

There is a potential Test series against England next year and it just happens to be at the same time as the Indian Premier League's (IPL) 20/20 season.

Mass desertion

Gayle has a US$850,000 contract with one of the Indian teams, which he was not fully able to cash in on this year because of injury.

Next year he faces an interesting choice - represent the West Indies or play in the IPL; and so too do other talented West Indians on IPL rosters.

A mass desertion to the subcontinent would devastate West Indian cricket and that's something we all, even the English literati, should be worried about.

Later.

Feedback: tym.glaser@gleanerjm.com.