Stanford millions 'scare': Collingwood

14 Jun, 2008

Paul Collingwood admits the prospect of England players becoming millionaires on the back of the Stanford Twenty20 raises 'scary' issues for world cricket.
Every member of the England XI stands to win one million dollars each if the team beats a Caribbean Super Stars side in Antigua on November 1 - the first edition of a fixture bankrolled by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford which will be an annual event for the next five years.
Collingwood, who captains the England one-day side in a Twenty20 match against New Zealand at Old Trafford here Friday - where the teams will compete for total prize money of 7,000 pounds (14,000 dollars) - said he was worried by the fact the Stanford match was just about money.
"That's the scary thing about the whole situation because there's not anything on the game," said the Durham all-rounder of a match where players on the losing side will get nothing. "It's not a World Cup, it's not the Ashes and when you're growing up as a kid that's what you dream about. "The scary thing about this is it's just about money. None of us have been in this situation before so how people react no one knows".

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