Govt blanks Stanford Twenty/20

It is understood that the twin-island republic, who are in the semi-finals of the competition, have been conspicuous in not sending a top official to witness at least one of the matches involving 17 Caribbean nations.

The Stanford Twenty/20 tournament is a $28 million initiative of Texas billionaire Allen Stanford which offers the biggest monetary prize ever in the game.

But Trinidad and Tobago officials have not endeared themselves in Antigua after failing to respond to official invitations to travel to St John’s and make their presence felt. “We had had high ranking Government officials from all of the other participating teams coming over to see for themselves how the tournament is being run. However only one Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs official from Trinidad and Tobago was here which has caused some disappointment to the Stanford Twenty/20 organisers,” Newsday was told yesterday.

It was hoped that Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Roger Boynes would have found the time to watch at least one Twenty/20 match preferably involving Trinidad and Tobago. Led by Daren Ganga, Trinidad and Tobago have advanced to the semi-finals of the competition and face Nevis tomorrow night at the Stanford Ground for a place in the final. The other semi-final will involve Guyana and Grenada tonight also at the Stanford Ground. Winners of the competition will collect US$1 million.

This is apart from US$25,000 “Man-of-the-Match” and US$10,000 “Play-of-the-Match” awards leading up to the final. The runners-up will collect US$500,000 and the cricket boards of the finalists will also pocket US$100,000 each to be used for development and improvement of cricket facilities in their respective countries.

“Man-of-the-Match” in the final gets US$100,000. At the inception of the tournament the respective cricket boards received US$100,000 for facilties improvement, training and development of the team.

An additional US$10,000 stipend per month was allocated to support the players and coaches and US$5,000 monthly for improvement and upkeep of facilities. With this kind of input in the development of the game in each country, it was hoped that the Trinidad and Tobago Government would have taken cognisance and shown some kind of acknowledgement. However expectation is still high that Minister Boynes would be present in Antigua to see Trinidad and Tobago qualify for the final tomorrow night and sample the hospitality of the Stanford team.