Four Guyanese cricketers including West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, former West Indies captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and all rounders Travis Dowlin and Lennox Cush have been named in a preliminary 32-member Stanford Twenty20 squad that will take on England for a US$20M prize on November 1 in Antigua.
According to a release from Communications and Media Manager for the Stanford Twenty20 Organisa-tion, Imran Khan, the squad was announced on Monday by Chairman of the selectors Sir Vivian Richards after consultation with the six other selectors, legends Sir Everton Weekes, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Andy Roberts, Lance Gibbs and Richie Richardson.
The squad also includes West Indies captain Chris Gayle, all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and MVP of the 2008 tournament, Dave Mohammed.
Richards said that this was a difficult selection and it was hoped the team will have the needed firepower when they take on England for the US$20M booty, the richest prize in the history of team sports.
An intense training session will take place in the coming months in Antigua to see how the players cope after which the difficult task of selecting the final squad would be made.
The selection of the squad will be based on performance in the camp along with other notable performances which the players would already have had in their respective records.
Fitness would also obviously be a key factor.
Meanwhile, Khan, responding to questions from Stabroek Sport said that one criteria for selection to the squad was that the players must have taken part in either the 2006 or 2008 tournaments. Consideration was also given to tournaments outside of the Stanford twenty20 competitions.
Former West Indies player, Antiguan Eldine Baptiste has been appointed head coach of the Stanford Superstars squad and he will have Roger Harper, the former West Indies and Kenya coach as his assistant along with Anguilla coach Cardigan Connor.
Stanford Superstars squad: Samuel Badree (Trinidad and Tobago), Lionel Baker (Montserrat), Sulieman Benn (Barbados), Dwayne Bravo (Trinidad and Tobago), Jonathan Carter (Barbados), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (Guyana), Lennox Cush (Guyana), Travis Dowlin (Guyana), Rayad Emrit (Trinidad and Tobago), John Eugene (St Maarten), Andre Fletcher (Grenada), Daren Ganga (Trinidad and Tobago), Chris Gayle (Jamaica), Chad Hampson (Antigua and Barbuda), Monctin Hodge (Anguilla), Danza Hyatt (Jamaica), Lyndon James (St Vincent and the Grenadines), Sylvester Joseph (Antigua and Barbuda), Aldermond Lesmond (United States Virgin Islands), Xavier Marshall (Jamaica), Dave Mohammed (Trinidad and Tobago), Nelon Pascal (Grenada), William Perkins (Trinidad and Tobago), Kieron Pollard (Trinidad and Tobago), Daren Powell (Jamaica), Kieran Powell (Nevis), Denesh Ramdin (Trinidad and Tobago), Darren Sammy (St Lucia), Ramnaresh Sarwan (Guyana), Jerome Taylor (Jamaica), Kelbert Walters (Anguilla), Tonito Willett (Nevis).
