Stanford Super Series 20/20 Cricket 2008-09
Stanford Super Series 20/20 Cricket 2008-09:
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Stanford Super Series 20/20 Cricket 2008-09
Stanford Super Series 2008-09: Stanford Superstars crush England in US$20 million Twenty20 match
Nov 01, 2008
The West Indies-based Stanford Superstars became instant millionaires when they trounced England by 10 wickets in the richest - and probably shortest - cricket match on Saturday.
For a winner-takes-all US$20 million bankrolled by American billionaire Allen Stanford, the Superstars routed England for 99 off 19.5 overs, then easily topped that by flaying 101 without loss inside 13 overs.
Each of the victorious 11 Superstars - a West Indies all-star side - pocketed $1 million.
Fittingly, captain Chris Gayle ended the match in grand style by hoisting an Andrew Flintoff full toss over long-on to send his teammates racing onto the field to celebrate, and the crowd into a frenzy.
England will go home with nothing, but know it has four more annual cracks at the cash after Stanford put up $100 million to fund his five-year Stanford Super Series.
Watched by 10,000 at cozy Stanford Ground and an estimated 700 million via TV worldwide, England produced a woeful batting display of careless shots. Seizing the initiative given by their bowlers, and energized by the partisan crowd, Gayle and Andre Fletcher boldly attacked England.
Gayle whacked 65 off 42 balls, and along with his barrage of five sixes, he hit five more boundaries.
Fletcher, who made his West Indies one-day debut this year against Australia and hit a 66-ball 90 on Thursday, added 32 off 31 balls, including five fours.
The first over was inauspicious. Gayle almost ran out Fletcher off the first ball, and survived the third umpire's decision on a leg-before-wicket appeal.
But Fletcher cut loose in the second over when he spanked three consecutive boundaries off Test bowler Stuart Broad.
England's other quick, Steve Harmison, gave up 22 in the fifth over, including a pair of sixes by Gayle.
After that, the Superstars were 49 without loss and it looked like they might not need half of their overs.
Gayle also roughed up spinners Samit Patel and Graeme Swann, whom he belted for sixes over long-on as he reached his half-century off just 33 balls.
Stanford Super Series, 2008-09: Stanford Superstars 101 for 0 beat England 99 all out by 10 wickets
Stanford Super Series 2008-09: Stanford Superstars crush Middlesex
Oct 30, 2008
The West Indies Super Stars XI defeated English county Middlesex by 58 runs on Thursday.
Middlesex opted fielding after winning the toss and put the West Indies Super Stars in trouble by capturing three early wickets for 66 runs.
However, Andre Fletcher holding one end intact took his team to 173-4 in the allotted 20 overs.
The 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman remained not out at 90, slamming seven sixes and three fours in his brilliant innings lasting a mere 66 balls.
Sylvester Joseph was the second top-scorer with 29.
Middlesex could not bat with confidence and the whole team were all out for 115.
Their top-scorer was Evan Morgan with 22 while Darren Powell, Darren Simmie and Dave Muhammad claimed two wickets each.
Stanford Super Series, 2008-09: Stanford Superstars 173 for 4 beat Middlesex 115 all out by 58 runs
Stanford Super Series 2008-09: England beat Trinidad and Tobago by one run
Oct 28, 2008
England beat Trinidad and Tobago by one run when Ravi Rampaul was run out going for a second run on the last ball of their Stanford Twenty20 Super Series match on Tuesday.
England made 141-6 and Trinidad 140-9 in the warmup for England's clash with the Stanford Superstars - a West Indies all-star side - for US$20 million on Saturday.
Trinidad, which beat English Twenty20 champion Middlesex on Monday for $280,000, threatened England's total only after late fireworks from Denesh Ramdin, who hit 37 off 36 balls before he was out with two overs to go at 125-7 and Trinidad needing 17 to win.
Rampaul joined Samuel Badree for the last over with 10 required, and after a Badree boundary they needed two runs off the last delivery from Steve Harmison.
Rampaul edged to third man, they made a run, but Owais Shah returned the ball for an easy run out, preventing the second run to tie the game and send it into a one-over bowl-off at Stanford Cricket Ground.
Allrounder Andrew Flintoff capture 3-30 and Paul Collingwood took 2-11 in the middle overs.
Earlier, opener Ian Bell steadied England's start with 37 including a six over long-off and a second six straight back over spinner Amit Jaggernauth.
Captain Kevin Pietersen joined Bell at 52-3 and was dropped while on 8 in the covers. Together they notched 48 for the fourth wicket before Bell, two balls after his second six, holed out to Rampaul on the boundary.
Flintoff linked with Pietersen in the 14th over but three overs later the captain departed having hit 44 from 30 balls, giving Sherwin Ganga his third of four wickets. Flintoff finished 11 not out.
Ganga took 4-23 from his four.
Stanford Super Series, 2008-09: England 141 for 6 beat Trinidad & Tobago 140 for 9 by one run
Stanford Super Series 2008-09: Trinidad and Tobago beat Middlesex by 5 wickets
Oct 27, 2008
Darren Bravo hit a six in the last over to spur Trinidad and Tobago to a five-wicket win over English county champion Middlesex and claim the Stanford Twenty20 Champions Cup Monday.
Bravo shared a match-winning stand of 67 with West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin which helped Trinidad recover from a precarious 49 for four in the 11th over in reply to Middlesex's 117 for eight from 20 overs.
Ramdin and Bravo, the brother of injured West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo - who watched the game with Trinidad team in the dressing room - took the total to 122 for five in 19.2 overs.
Left-hander Bravo ensured the win when he belted Tyron Henderson over mid-off for six, finishing with 27 from 24 balls.
Trinidad collected US$280,000 for winning the cup, which is part of the buildup to the $20 million Twenty20 between England and the Stanford Superstars on Saturday.
Earlier, man-of-the-match Ravi Rampual took 4-25 to restrict Middlesex's total, including two on consecutive balls until Tim Murtagh avoided the hat-trick by scoring a single.
Rampaul bowled top-scorer Neil Dexter for 39 before having captain Shau Udal caught behind next ball for no-score.
He had earlier removed Neil Carter and Ed Joyce, each for one run and both caught behind by Ramdim, who had a hand in four dismissals.
Spinner Sherwin Ganga and seamer Navin Stewart took two wickets apiece.
Middlesex stared well in defence of their modest total when seamer Tim Murtagh (2-18) removed opener William Perkins (0) in the first over.
Eoin Malan (2-11) also kept a tight rein in the middle of the innings but Ramdin, who stroked 41 from 28 balls including two sixes and a four, and Bravo batted well to take the game away.
Ramdin was dismissed in the penultimate over with two runs needed.
Stanford Super Series, 2008-09: Trinidad & Tobago 122 for 5 beat Middlesex 117 for 8 by five wickets
Stanford Super Series 2008-09: England beats Middlesex in Super Series
Oct 26, 2008
Inspirational all-rounder Andrew Flintoff bowled a steady last over to help England defeat Middlesex by 12 runs in the second match of the Stanford Twenty20 Super Series.
With 18 runs needed off the last over, Flintoff (1-23) conceded just five runs as Middlesex top-scorer Dawid Malan, who made an unbeaten 41 from 33 balls, was unable to hit any boundaries, on Sunday.
Flintoff helped England defend their modest 4-121 off 20 overs, restricting Middlesex reached 4-109 in reply.
Earlier, Owais Shah top-scored with 39 as the England batsmen also struggled against the Middlesex spin and pace attack.
Batsmen on both sides found it difficult to get the ball off the square while fielders appeared to have difficulty in picking up the ball in the lights as, just like the previous game, several catches were dropped.
A partnership of 62 between Malan, who hoisted England skipper Kevin Pietersen for a straight six, and Ed Joyce, who also hammered Pietersen for a six over long-off in his patient 33, attempted to spur Middlesex to an upset win.
It seemed likely when Malan struck two fours off seamer James Anderson in the penultimate over but Flintoff's splendid last over cramped his attempts for big hits.
Left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom made the initial breakthrough by bowling his England colleague Andrew Strauss for eight in the fourth over and when Neil Carter was caught in the deep off Flintoff, Middlesex were 36 for two off eight overs.
Eight runs later, Eoin Morgan was dismissed for four, making the English County Twenty20 champions' task even more difficult.
Shah's chancy knock, 29 by Mathew Prior and Ian Bell's 23 were main scorers in England's disappointing total.
Left-arm spinner Murali Kartik, who outfoxed England's captain Kevin Pietersen when he had him stumped for five, captured 2-27.
Shah, who survived two dropped catches, and Flintoff, who watched his England test teammate Andrew Strauss drop a routine chance at mid-on, hammered sixes off Tim Murtagh in the latter stages of the innings in an attempt to get on top of the bowling.
But Flintoff was caught on the long-off boundary off left-arm seamer Neil Carter to end a stand of 28 for the fourth wicket in the 19th over.
Middlesex will meet Stanford Twenty20 Caribbean winner Trinidad & Tobago, who were beaten by 22 runs on Saturday by the Stanford Super Stars, in the Champions Cup match worth $US400,000 ($A650,000).
England, which plays Trinidad on Tuesday, will meet the Super Stars next Saturday for the first Stanford $US20 million ($A32.5 million) Twenty20 match.
Stanford Super Series, 2008-09: England 121 for 4 beat Middlesex 109 for 4 by 12 runs
Stanford Super Series 2008-09: Stanford Superstars win Super Series opener
Oct 25, 2008
The Stanford Superstars warmed up for their US$20 million showdown against England with a hard-fought victory by 22 runs over Trinidad and Tobago at the Stanford Cricket Ground on Saturday night.
Without being spectacular, the Stanford Superstars, minus key batsmen Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, were efficient in winning the first match of the Stanford Super Series before an encouraging crowd.
Stand-in captain Sylvester Joseph provided a flurry at the end with an unbeaten 45 off 31 balls to guide his team to a competitive 146 for five and tall left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn stopped a promising Trinidad and Tobago response to help limit the opponents to 124 for eight.
Despite useful contributions from openers Travis Dowlin (35) and Andre Fletcher (25), the Stanford Superstars were pegged back in the first ten overs and were 50 for two at the half-way stage.
With pacer Ravi Rampaul bowling with plenty of purpose and leg-spinner Samuel Badree claiming a double-strike in the eighth over, the Stanford Superstars were never able to score freely until the last five overs when they blasted 53.
Joseph received support from big-hitter Kieron Pollard who lashed 24 off 14 balls and benefitted from one of three chances Trinidad and Tobago spilled.
Trinidad and Tobago, the reigning Stanford 20/20 champions, scored 34 off the first five overs, but slipped a notch when Benn was introduced into the attack.
Benn struck with the third ball by removing the dangerous William Perkins for a run-a-ball 16 and went on to bowl four mean overs that cost 15 and included another wicket.
After captain Daren Ganga was dismissed for 13 in the tenth over, Trinidad and Tobago were given a fighting chance of victory with a fourth wicket partnership of 42 between debutants Justin Guillen (31) and Navin Stewart (26).
A clatter of wickets in the last five overs, however, ended their chances.
Stanford Super Series, 2008-09: Stanford Superstars 146 for 5 beat Trinidad & Tobago 124 for 8 by 22 runs
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