Stanford set to join T20 revolution

The Texan billionaire, behind a planned 10 million pound ($19.6 million) Twenty20 competition in the Caribbean, will join the England and Wales Cricket Board for a news conference at Lord's on Wednesday and is expected to outline details of the tournament.

Allen Stanford, who wants to finance a winner-takes-all series between England and an international All Star team, will join ECB chairman Giles Clarke and Test greats Ian Botham and Viv Richards at the home of cricket for what is widely anticipated to be the unveiling of the tournament.

The ECB has been meeting with Stanford – who runs his own Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean – for more than a month.

The advent of Twenty20 has revolutionized cricket, offering a result inside three hours and making it more attractive to broadcasters and to time-poor fans.

The Stanford competition would give a good impetus to the Twenty20 boom, which already has seen exciting new tournaments like the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) in India this year that attracted the world’s top players to franchises in a domestic league.

The creation of such tournaments have come in the wake of India's win in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last year which sparked mass celebrations by Indian supporters who had not enjoyed such success at a global cricket tournament since winning the World Cup in 1983.

Last weekend, the England Cricket Board unveiled plans for a Twenty20 Champions League – with a first prize of US$5 million – featuring the top two clubs or provinces from each of the Australia, India, England and South Africa domestic competitions.