Lara's participation uncertain in inaugural championship

Brian Lara remains quite uncertain about representing Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) in the inaugural Stanford 20/20 Tournament beginning on Monday in Antigua.

According to The Trinidad Guardian, Lara will be away on business in London during the tournament. However, two other T&T players who represented West Indies against India recently, Daren Ganga and Denesh Ramdin, have indicated their availability to Dudnath Ramkessoon, the chief selector. Dwayne Bravo, the allrounder, will miss out due to his commitments with Kent while Dave Mohammed, the left-arm spinner, will be touring England with the West Indies A team.

Meanwhile, Clive Lloyd, the West Indian legend, has hailed the Stanford 20/20 tournament as a "phenomenal" achievement.

"It is absolutely phenomenal for anyone to even conceive of getting all 19 teams together, let alone to organise it," Lloyd was reported as telling The Jamaica Observer. "Mr. Stanford deserves a lot of credit for this venture and I'm sure a lot of positives will come from it. This will be a tremendous display of talent; for the first time, an unprecedented number of current regional cricketers will be on show."

The curtain on the tournament will go up next week when St Maarten and the US Virgin Islands clash in the opening game at the Stanford Cricket Ground. The tournament, which runs from July 11 to August 13, will feature 19 Caribbean countries vying for a top prize of USD 1 million.

The competing teams are Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Maarten, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the US Virgin Islands.