Windies stars for $20m match

2008-07-22 19:06

Bridgetown, Barbados - West Indies captain Chris Gayle was among 17 internationals selected in the 32-man Stanford Superstars training squad for the $20m Twenty20 match against England in November.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor and Dwayne Bravo were also picked in the squad late on Monday for the Nov 1 match in Antigua, the day the Caribbean island celebrates its independence from England.

Texan billionaire Allen Stanford, an Antigua resident who funds a regional tournament, will spend $100m on five Twenty20 matches over five years between England and his West Indies selection, the Stanford Superstars.

The 11 players on the winning team will collect $1m each for less than three hours of work. The remainder will be split between the reserve players and national associations.

Former West Indies captain Viv Richards chaired the selection panel, which also included cricket greats Everton Weekes, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Andy Roberts, Lance Gibbs and Richie Richardson.

"This is a squad of the best performers in the two editions of the Stanford Twenty20 tournament we've had so far, and the best players in the region," Richards said.

"It was a difficult task to select the top 32, but our selection panel believes that these players will provide us with the firepower and all the other resources to prevail over England in what is the richest prize in team sport history."

Left-arm wrist spinner Dave Mohammed, who was voted the best player in the Stanford Twenty20 tournament as Trinidad and Tobago won the title, was also included.

Former West Indies allrounder Eldine Baptiste is the head coach, while Roger Harper and Cardigan Connor are his assistants.

The number of players in the final squad and the dates of training camps have not been announced.

Squad:

Samuel Badree (Trinidad and Tobago), Lionel Baker (Montserrat), Sulieman Benn (Barbados), Dwayne Bravo (Trinidad and Tobago), Jonathan Carter (Barbados), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Guyana), Lennox Cush (Guyana), Travis Dowlin (Guyana), Rayad Emrit (Trinidad and Tobago), John Eugene (St Maarten), Andre Fletcher (Grenada), Daren Ganga (Trinidad and Tobago), Chris Gayle (Jamaica), Chad Hampson (Antigua and Barbuda), Monctin Hodge (Anguilla), Danza Hyatt (Jamaica), Lyndon James (St Vincent and the Grenadines), Sylvester Joseph (Antigua and Barbuda), Aldermond Lesmond (United States Virgin Islands), Xavier Marshall (Jamaica), Dave Mohammed (Trinidad and Tobago), Nelon Pascal (Grenada), William Perkins (Trinidad and Tobago), Kieron Pollard (Trinidad and Tobago), Daren Powell (Jamaica), Kieran Powell (Nevis), Denesh Ramdin (Trinidad and Tobago), Darren Sammy (St Lucia), Ramnaresh Sarwan (Guyana), Jerome Taylor (Jamaica), Kelbert Walters (Anguilla), Tonito Willett (Nevis).

- AP