2008 Stanford Super Series
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. 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. Support Staff: 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 sponsors 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 weren't 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.