Stanford in bad taste or in spirit of cricket?
England take on Middlesex in their first match of the Stanford Super Series on Sunday but the English dailies have mixed feelings about by the show in Antigua
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
England take on Middlesex in their first match of the Stanford Super Series on Sunday but the English dailies have mixed feelings about by the show in Antigua. In the Sunday Times, Simon Wilde calls it 'bad taste'.
.. a toytown stadium, black bats, silver stumps, vulgar amounts of money and a contraction of the game’s skills into the time it takes to consume a jumbo burger, a tub of popcorn and a bucket of Pepsi.
But in the Observer Andy Bull writes the Stanford match is much closer to the spirit of cricket than many people imagine.
English cricket was slow to accept that a player did not demean himself by making a living from sport. The great medium-pace bowler SF Barnes was left out by England between 1902 and 1907 because he preferred to earn money playing as a professional in the Lancashire League. Now it seems we are just as unhappy that a player's skills can earn him a quick million.
Nasser Hussain is fascinated by the tournament and wants to see how the England players react to the unique pressure that this winner-takes-all affair will create. He asks in the Daily Mail:
How will Ryan Sidebottom cope if he is bowling the last over with 15 needed? Will Pietersen be his usual confident self if he is at the crease with England needing 16 to win from the last six balls?
To Stephen Brenkley, writing in the Independent on Sunday, of all the short-form matches currently being organised, the Stanford Superstars v England is the most offensive.
It has no context as a propersporting competition, it is neither country versus country, club versus club or invitation XI versus invitation XI. It is a rococo hybrid.
The question, however, is this: why are they [world audiences] awaiting this one-match contest scheduled for a maximum of 40 overs with so much expectation, so much anxiety? writes Tony Becca in the Jamaica Gleaner. Is it because of the action, the brilliant play that is expected, or is it because of the huge prize money for a match lasting for three hours or so?
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo