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Texan billionaire Allen Stanford has issued a defiant eve-of-battle defence of his Twenty20 Super Series which concludes here Saturday with the 20 million dollar winner takes all showdown between England and his Caribbean Superstars.
"When this was announced in June I was a hero; now I'm a skunk in October. Maybe I'll be a hero somewhere in between again, but cricket is changing right before our very eyes," he told BBC radio Five on Friday.
Stanford's Super Series has been dismissed as a 'garden party, while Saturday's mega bucks clash which sees the winning side walk off with one million dollars a man and the vanquished XI nothing has been labelled "obscene" and a "pantomime". The pitch has also come under fire and players have complained about poor visibility under the floodlights in Antigua.
Lord McLaurin, former England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief, has led the attacks on Saturday's match, saying: "To have these huge rewards for one match is, to my mind, just stupid," he said. "My view as a traditionalist is that Twenty20 has a place, but this sort of pantomime cricket doesn't. This sort of thing is just obscene, especially with the financial state the country is in."
England players' boss Sean Morris added his voice to the criticism being heaped on Stanford. "It really boils down to turning up and coming out on a wicket which isn't really suitable for international cricket," said Morris. "That gives you the feeling you are turning up to a bit of a garden party, which shouldn't really be the case with England cricket.
"There is a sensation that the game has been devalued in terms of a contest - because there is a little bit of luck involved with this wicket. "That, mirrored with a couple of other things off the field, have created a feeling that it is not entirely the most professional event they have attended." But Stanford went on the counter attack, telling BBC Radio Five on Friday: "We are taking the grass right down so it will play much faster and we are putting in a hard pitch.
"The light issue will all be resolved for this game. There will not be any light issues whatsoever. The magnitude of this match is such that we are going to address the issues; we know what they are." Turning to the ECB's view of his brainchild he added: "I don't think the ECB has a problem and I certainly don't have any problems.
"I had dinner with (ECB chief executive) David Collier on Wednesday and he didn't tell me they had any worries about what has happened so far," added Stanford. "They are conducting a review, but they do that at the end of every series they have, it's just standard procedure.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008

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