Superstars squad for US$20m match announced

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – West Indies batting star Shivnarine Chanderpaul, captain Chris Gayle, vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, and key all-rounder Dwayne Bravo headline a 32-member training squad to prepare for the Stanford Twenty20 for US $20 million match against England on November 1 in Antigua.

The training squad was announced on Monday, after the players and the management of the Stanford Twenty20 Cup winning Trinidad & Tobago team were presented with Championship rings at a dinner ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the T&T capital.

Chanderpaul, Gayle, Sarwan, and Bravo are four of 17 players that have played international cricket for West Indies named in the squad.

Sir Vivian Richards, chairman of the Stanford Twenty20 selection panel, noted that the squad was an exciting and diverse group of players.

“As I sat down on six legends of West Indies cricket to select the Superstars team, we poured over a long list of names, and players who we felt would do justice to the Stanford Twenty20 for US $20 million match,” he said.

“We recalled their performances and their statistics, but selecting cricket squads is never easy. We had some leverage in that we had to select 32 players.

“We have also selected four additional young and exciting players with excellent potential who we believe will benefit from training with the squad in an effort to improve their game among the best we have in the region.”

Sir Vivian mentioned that though he expected great discussion about the composition of the squad, he hopes that the players excluded from the 32 would work hard to improve.

“It is not with easy hearts that we had to exclude some players,” he said. “What we hope that this will do is motivate them to excel even further in Stanford Twenty20 Cup to force their way into the next Stanford Superstars squad.

“Because of the nature of this match – the richest prize in the history of team sports – there was naturally some level of pressure put on us, but we believe we have done a good job in choosing the best squad to put in training under Eldine Baptiste, Roger Harper, and Cardigan Connor, and we hope everyone believes this as well.”

Sir Vivian also hopes the players will train diligently to make the task of the selection panel which also includes Sir Everton Weekes, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Andy Roberts, Lance Gibbs, and Richie Richardson more difficult.

“The selection of any squad can never bring absolute agreement by everybody everywhere and the task will only get tougher for us when it comes time to narrow down the 32 players into the final playing squad,” he said.

“I wish all the players well and look forward to them working extremely hard to make the final squad and to win the inaugural US $20 million.

“The English are coming to the Caribbean with the firm belief that they can take our money away, but I would like to think that with the expert advice of some of the legends we have selected a squad to do justice to the Caribbean.”

The number of players in the final playing squad and the dates of the preparatory camps will be announced once the details have been confirmed.

The Stanford Superstars training squad has been selected from active players from the 2006 and 2008 editions of the Stanford Twenty20 Cup.