The 2008 Stanford Super Series was a cricket tournament sponsored by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford. The tournament was played between 25 October – 1 November consisting of 5 warm-up matches and a US$20 million for the grand finale. This final match was played between the Stanford Superstars and England. Before it began, the tournament was threatened with cancellation due to a row between Digicel, the West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) main sponsor, and Stanford. Digicel argued that it should get sponsorship rights because it is WICB's sponsorship rights holder and that the tournament was officially sanctioned by the WICB. All 2008 Super Series matches took place at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua, and started at 5:30 pm local time (9:30 pm in the United Kingdom). All games were aired on Sky Sports in the UK.

Qualification

The Stanford Superstars was a squad selected from the best players in the Stanford 20/20 competition. England competed in the first year of a five-year contract to be involved in the tournament. Trinidad and Tobago qualified as the winners of the Stanford 20/20 whilst Middlesex Crusaders qualified as winners of the Twenty20 Cup in England and Wales.

Summary

The tournament was seen to have been commenced successfully, though pitch conditions meant that its opening matches were low-scoring. Criticism was also levelled at the floodlights in the Antigua pitch, which were low enough to obstruct the vision of fielding players, with Middlesex captain Shaun Udal stating "I have not known a ground where the visibility is as bad". The behaviour of organiser Allen Stanford was also questioned, particularly after he offended a number of England players by acting flirtatiously with their wives during a match, actions for which he later apologised The England team was later hit by a stomach bug, leading Kevin Pietersen to declare that he was looking forward to the tournament's completion. Before the tournament ended, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that they would be reviewing the five-year contract that they had signed with Stanford, bringing into question their participation in future tournaments However, the Trinidad and Tobago v England game was described as 'thrilling'. The tournament received a large amount of media coverage whilst it was extremely popular with fans in the West Indies. Commentators were generally positive about the success of the tournament within its host venue, with Jonathan Agnew claiming that it was organised significantly better than the previous World Cup, also held in the West Indies.

Matches

Exhibition Matches

Trans-Atlantic Twenty20 Champions Cup

$20 million match

Squads

2008 Stanford SuperStars

On 14 August 2008, the All-Stars selection panel, which was led by cricketing legend Sir Viv Richards, and which included fellow West Indies cricketing luminaries as Sir Everton Weekes, Curtly Ambrose, Lance Gibbs, Richie Richardson, Andy Roberts and Courtney Walsh, announced 17 players who would play under the Stanford SuperStars colours in the Super Series. 🇯🇲 Chris Gayle (c) 🇯🇲 Daren Powell 🇯🇲 Jerome Taylor 🇦🇬 Sylvester Joseph (Vice-captain) 🇦🇬 Chad Hampson 🇹🇹 Dave Mohammed 🇹🇹 Kieron Pollard 🇹🇹 Rayad Emrit 🇬🇾 Ramnaresh Sarwan 🇬🇾 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 🇬🇾 Lennox Cush 🇬🇩 Andre Fletcher Sulieman Benn 🇲🇸 Lionel Baker 🇻🇨 Lindon James Support Staff: 🇦🇬 Coach, Head: Eldine Baptiste 🇬🇾 Coach, Asst: Roger Harper 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Coach, Fielding: Julien Fountain 🇻🇨 Coach, Manager: Cardigan Connor 🇬🇾 Analyst: Robin Singh 🇨🇺 Trainer: Hector Martinez 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Physiotherapist: Kim Jackson 🇨🇺 Physiotherapist Julio Gonsalves Physical Therapist: Virgil Browne (Dwayne Bravo 🇹🇹 (injury), and Xavier Marshall 🇯🇲 (failed drug test) were named to the initial team under the initial selection procedures, but withdrew before the Series was played. Darren Sammy 🇱🇨 and Travis Dowlin 🇬🇾 were named to replace them in the squad. )

2008 English squad

On 9 September 2008, three weeks after the Superstars squad was named, the England Cricket Board announced their 15-man squad for the 2008 Super Series. Kevin Pietersen, Hampshire, (captain) James Anderson, Lancashire Ian Bell, Warwickshire Ravi Bopara, Essex Stuart Broad, Nottinghamshire Paul Collingwood, Durham Alastair Cook, Essex Andrew Flintoff, Lancashire Stephen Harmison, Durham Samit Patel, Nottinghamshire Matt Prior, Sussex Owais Shah, Middlesex Graeme Swann, Nottinghamshire Ryan Sidebottom, Nottinghamshire Luke Wright, Sussex

2008 Trinidad and Tobago squad

Rishi Bachan Samuel Badree Darren Bravo Kevon Cooper Daron Cruickshank Daren Ganga (captain) Sherwin Ganga Justin Guillen Amit Jaggernauth Richard Kelly William Perkins Denesh Ramdin Ravi Rampaul Lendl Simmons Navin Stewart

2008 Middlesex squad

Neil Carter Neil Dexter Steven Finn Billy Godleman Tyron Henderson Ed Joyce Murali Kartik Dawid Malan Eoin Morgan Tim Murtagh David Nash Alan Richardson Ben Scott Andrew Strauss Shaun Udal (captain)

Commercial dispute

Digicel, who sponsored the West Indies Cricket Board, filed suit to halt the Stanford Super Series. They claimed that due to their deal with the West Indies Cricket Board, that they were due certain advertising and broadcasting rights that were not being granted to them. The response from the West Indies Board, and from the representatives of the Super Series was that the Stanford Superstars were an unofficial team, and thus the Digicel agreement did not come into play. Digicel won the suit, in front of the High Court in London, England. However, they later reached a deal with Stanford Super Series officials, that allowed the tournament to continue for at least three years.