Stanford's game isn't cricket, so what is it?
Another day, and the disquiet over the whole Stanford venture rumbles on, with particular attention now being paid to the role of the ECB in the whole affair.
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
The Mirror
Another day, and the disquiet over the whole Stanford venture rumbles on, with particular attention now being paid to the role of the ECB in the whole affair.
In the Times Michael Atherton cuts to the quick.
With developments this week suggesting that the contract is more about Stanford and his brand than any altruistic concerns about West Indies cricket, it is clear that the ECB has been, at best, naive and at worst outmanoeuvred again.
Briefings were given yesterday by officials from the governing body indicating how uneasy they have become at the sight of the England team being used as a prop for a rich man's ego.
Stephen Brenkley, writing in the Independent, was just as forthright.
The Stanford Twenty20 Super Series has been a public relations disaster. Whatever the complications of the deal and however apparently irresistible the money was, the tournament has become less and less desirable by the day.
From the moment that the ECB and Sir Allen unveiled a case filled with $20m in cash at Lord's last June to be paid for an exhibition match between England and the Stanford Superstars it has been plain that this event has been almost exclusively about the cash and the rich man supplying it.
Paul Newman in the Daily Mail quotes Michael Holding, a former Stanford ambassador: “Allen Stanford is just in it for himself, not West Indian cricket. Everyone will see.” Newman continues:
How could the English game's rulers be so naive in jumping into bed with an American billionaire and expect him to be the answer to their prayers as they find themselves increasingly isolated in a cricket world dominated by India?
This week was only ever going to be about Stanford and the huge amount of money he is throwing at the winners of Saturday's exhibition match between the England cricket team and a group of West Indian cricketers who go by the name of the Stanford Superstars, as everything here has to be prefixed with the name of the man who virtually rules this Caribbean island.
Dean Wilson in the Mirror ponders how the man himself will react to the opprobrium heading his way.
It is not the sort of response Stanford is used to and he will be either completely taken aback by the strength of feeling in the England camp or he will be fuming at the lack of kow-towing from his guests that his money usually affords him. But he should appreciate that a large part of the anger stems from his behaviour that has made a mockery of the game of cricket.
Andy Bull in his blog for the Guardian wonders if Stanford can recoup his investment.
Certainly the 20/20 for 20 has put him in a much better position to grow his business in the City. As for the money to be made directly from the match itself, the ceiling of the potential profits sits far lower than his expenditure on it all. As long as he is in partnership with the ECB rather than the BCCI, then it is going to stay that way. The huge money in cricket comes with a presence in India, not England.
As long as the project to convert Americans to cricket remains a pipedream and Stanford is in cahoots with the English, the tournament is never going to make the kinds of blockbuster sums associated with the future of Twenty20. He invited India, remember, to play this challenge match after they won the World Twenty20, but they turned him down.
Allen Stanford's millions are not a solution for English cricket - the solution lies in India and a deal which will make England's best players available to the IPL, writes Mihir Bose on BBC Sport. The ECB must come to terms with Indian cricket. If it does not, it will be in danger of getting bogged down in matches that may generate publicity and bring some money but will do nothing for its cricket in the long term.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo