/ 11 June 2008

England to play Caribbean side in $20m match

England will play a Caribbean all-star team in a Twenty20 match for a record prize pot of $20-million on November 1, Texan billionaire Allen Stanford confirmed on Wednesday.

The Antigua match will boast the richest team prize ever for a single sporting contest, guaranteeing the 11 players on the winning side $1-million each. The losers will get nothing.

An amount of $12-million will go to the players in the winning squad, with $1-million to be split among the winning management team.

The remaining $7-million will be divided between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Stanford, who is based in the Caribbean, reached agreement with the ECB and the WICB for a series of five annual ”winners-take-all matches”.

The match has been authorised by the International Cricket Council, although it will be an unofficial Twenty20 international. — Reuters