Richardson: Stanford squad chosen

Richie Richardson cutting in trademark fashion and in trademark maroon sunhat

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A preliminary squad to take on England in November’s US$20million one-off Twenty20 game has already been chosen, West Indies legend Richie Richardson has revealed.

Richardson is on the board of the Caribbean Stanford Twenty20 tournament which, like November’s game, is funded by Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford.

He is also a member of the selection panel which has already identified an initial squad to comprise the Stanford All-Star team, a side he thinks will have a good chance of toppling England.

“We’ve selected about 25 players and some extras in case of injuries and other things.

“The guys are going to be in training. We are going to try to get them together a few weeks before that big match.

“We believe with the talent that we have and the team we’ve picked, if the guys really put their minds to it and work hard, they can beat England.

“After all, it’s one match, 20 overs,” he told www.windiescricket.com.

“It’s how well you play on the day for three hours. We do believe the guys can beat England.

“It’s not going to be easy but we just want them to go out there and give a good account of themselves, prepare well, play well and don’t let the West Indies and themselves down.”

Each player from the winning side will pocket US$1million, while another US$1million will be shared among those players who fail to make the starting line-up and US$1million among the coaching staff.

Eldine Baptiste during his 87 not out in West Indies' innings victory over England at Edgbaston in 1984

Richardson also revealed there would not be one coach of the All-Star team, rather a pool of coaches, with input from the ‘Stanford legends’.

“We have Eldine Baptiste in place, we have Roger Harper [but] we have not finalised who is exactly going to be responsible,” he said.

“We know rather than have one coach, we’re going to have several coaches looking after the team and the [Stanford] legends from time to time will go in and assist.

“We will assist with motivational talks, we’ll assist in specific areas as requested by the coaches.”

The game is scheduled for November 1 at Antigua’s Stanford Cricket Ground, and is set to be a part of the cricket calendar for the next five years.

Baptiste, an Antiguan all-rounder, was a member of the West Indies team that inflicted a 5-0 ‘blackwash’ upon England in 1984.

He famously ran out Geoff Miller with a direct hit from the boundary in that series, and also played county cricket for Kent and Northamptonshire.

Harper is renowned as one of the greatest fielders ever to play the game, and was a useful off-spinner and batsman for West Indies, Guyana and Northants.