Stanford match a grubby exercise

1:20pm Friday 7th November 2008

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Seeing England get thrashed in that Stanford bubblegum game was the perfect result.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to see our national side do well whatever the sport – but when it really matters for the country.

Nothing that went on in the Caribbean last week had anything to do with representing the nation. It was no more than a grubby exercise to grab a fast buck – or make that a million of them – from the bulging wallet of an American tycoon.

Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford loved it, particularly the bit where he got the England WAGs to bounce on his knee. But watching as a fan, it was the tackiest, most tawdry advert for cricket.

England’s pre-match bleating that they weren’t out there purely for the dosh just added to the nonsense.

That’s why I was delighted to see the home team – sorry, that should be the Stanford All-Stars, take the jackpot.

While our lot were dreaming up plans of how they were going to splash the loot they obviously weren’t dreaming of, the dastardly opposition were actually stuck in the nets practising.

The West Indians were put through their paces in a six-week boot camp. Should we therefore be too surprised that they romped a lop-sided encounter by ten wickets?

And afterwards, when asked how they would use the £600,000-a-man reward, the replies focused on giving their family a comfortable future or helping further the game’s development in the poorer islands. Not a pink Porsche in sight … Twenty20 is here to stay and will get bigger, bolder and louder on the international stage. The Indian powerbrokers will see to that.

But please don’t get to the situation where last week’s excruciating jamboree is one day held up there alongside the Ashes. That would never be cricket.