Stanford pays millions for official recognition

The West Indies Cricket Board has announced that it has been paid US$2 million by Allen Stanford as a licensing fee for sanctioning the Stanford 20/20 tournament in Antigua. Furthermore, the board will receive another US$1 million a year for the next four years.

In return, the WICB has signed a commitment that the Stanford 20/20 will be the official regional Twenty20 competition.

"This agreement with Stanford 20/20 complements the one signed in London among the WICB, the ECB and Stanford 20/20," Julian Hunte, the WICB chairman, said. "Together they will be worth about US$33.5 million to the WICB over the five-year period.

"We have a Strategic Plan which is built around cricket development including a Cricket Academy that will link all the Territories together with a unified approach and standardized curriculum.

"The bulk of the new funds will go towards ensuring that we increase the number of young people playing cricket and improve the standard to the point where we achieve and maintain our goal of being at the pinnacle of world cricket by 2012."