Plans to rearrange games in 2008

Stanford confirms $5 million match is off

Cricinfo staff

September 5, 2006

Allen Stanford faces the media in Antigua © Cricinfo

At a press conference in Antigua, Stanford outlined the sequence of events that led to his decision, while Wes Hall, who hosted the meeting, added that Stanford had been "distraught" when he called to advise him of the cancellation last week. "The man was truly hurt by the chain of events that led to the only decision he could come to," Hall said.

Stanford was clearly unhappy as he explained his position. "We have done everything right. I have done everything I said I would do and more. We obtained approval from the ruling body for cricket eight months ago, invited and involved the West Indies board in everything that we are doing. Many of the legends are part of the West Indies Cricket Board.

"We had a great tournament (20/20) and we wanted to sum it all up with our best facing an international side. I am truly sorry that is not able to happen this year. There is too much uncertainty and there is too much at stake to move forward with the match at this stage."

However, Stanford added that the South Africans would be invited again to play a Super Star team in mid-2008. The team would come from those players participating in the next Stanford 20/20 tournament which is scheduled to take place between December 2007 and February 2008. Stanford also announced that the board which had organised and run the successful 20/20 tournament last month would be disbanded until next May.

Hopes that the match could go ahead had been raised last week with an announcement by Shaharyar Khan, chairman PCB, that they were willing to "bend over backwards" to accomodate the WICB and Stanford. The PCB were willing to revise the itinerary of the West Indies' tour to Pakistan in November by a few days so that the Super Star match could be played - the original conundrum was that the contest was scheduled for November 10, whereas according to the touring schedule, West Indies would be in Pakistan by then with the first Test due to begin on November 11.

As it turns out, however, the decision to cancel the match had already been taken by the time the offer was made.

© Cricinfo

Add to del.icio.us | digg this | Stumble It What's this? If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content on cricket, you may use these buttons. When you add them to any of these sites, you "social bookmark" them for others to find and rate. More on del.icio.us>> More on digg>> More on stumbleupon>> Close

NEW fantasy cricket game - England v South Africa (starts July 10) Login and enter your team now Live scores, results, news, features and more - a click away Download the Cricinfo Toolbar Cricinfo on the go - our mobile services WAP and Mobicast

Stories

Gordon clarifies Stanford cancellation

Stanford's $5 million bonanza scrapped

Players/Umpires

Ken Gordon

Allen Stanford

Teams

South Africa

West Indies