South Africa to play big-money Twenty20 in Antigua

South Africa and a West Indies XI will battle it out in Antigua in November for a US$5 million stake in a one-off international Twenty20 match.

The match is the brainchild of Allan Stanford, an Antiguan billionaire, who will select the West Indies team for the match and is also the sponsor of the local Pro20 series. Stanford has apparently spent more than US$28 million on the Pro20 series, as well as upgrading the cricket infrastructure on the islands.

Mickey Arthur, South Africa's coach, has confirmed that a contract has been signed. "The match is being planned to take place the week after the Champions Trophy final in India." Arthur said the match will give them an ideal opportunity to experience local conditions as they prepare for the World Cup, even though they will only be in Antigua for three days.

"Antigua is just 20 minutes by air from St Kitts, where our base will be next year. We'll go and look at the hotels and training facilities and so on."

The South African paper Die Burger also learnt that should South Africa be successful, they will receive 35% of the prize money. The remaining 65% will be used for the United Cricket Board of South Africa's development programme.