Date:10/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/10/stories/2008101060562300.htm

Sport - Cricket

Stanford T20 likely to go ahead

Port of Spain: Discussions held between organisers of the Stanford Twenty20 and Digicel, official sponsor of the West Indies Cricket Board, seemed to have opened the doors for the richest cricket match to go ahead as per schedule.

The November 1 match, which boasts a purse of $20 million in the winner-takes-all contest, ran into rough weather after Digicel approached a London court seeking rights to sponsor the match. The court’s ruling in Digicel’s favour further compounded matters and it needed a phone call from Allen Stanford, the man behind the T20 clash, to get things moving.

The Trinidad & Tobago Express reported that Stanford had a discussion with Denis O’Brien, head of Digicel, and they reached a “commercial agreement,” paving the most lucrative match in cricket’s history to go ahead.

The agreement will have to be presented before the WICB directors for ratification.

The Super Series culminates with the Stanford Twenty20 on November 1 when the Stanford Superstars takes on England ODI team for a winner-takes-all $20,000,000 prize money match. — PTI