A Caribbean Kerry Packer or the region's saviour?
A week ago billionaire Allen Stanford announced a $28 million investment in Caribbean cricket, mainly via a prestigious new Twenty20 series, but as the reality sets in, the debate has started.
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
A week ago billionaire Allen Stanford announced a $28 million investment in Caribbean cricket, mainly via a prestigious new Twenty20 series, but as the reality sets in, the debate has started.
In The Jamaica Gleaner, Tony Becca writes:
Twenty20 cricket is not first-class cricket, and yet West Indies cricket is about to find itself in a position where, for example, the first-class champions of the region collect a paltry US$7,500 and the Twenty20 champions a whopping one million US dollars.
But in the Barbados-based Nation, Vaneisa Baksh disagrees:
Cleverly sensing the powerful attraction of Twenty20 cricket to this generation, Stanford has affixed his programme to its rapidly spreading culture. Purists may argue that it is not cricket, but the truth is that although it might be a different ball game, it may yet provide the nurturing ground for building the skills required for Tests ... it can become a critical educational tool for young cricketers, teaching them how to focus their minds, and to feel the immediate consequences of lapses.
The Jamaica Observer describes Stanford as the "Caribbean Packer", and asks for more clarity:
We believe that there is need for more, and better, particulars from Mr Stanford and his associates ... it all has a ring of Kerry Packer's cricket, which, at the time split the international game between the official teams and the superstars who migrated to World Series Cricket. That turned out to be a nasty affair which was pathetically handled on both sides. We hope this is not a case in which history is attempting to repeat itself.