$20 million dollar twenty20 match- Stanford Super Series

Sir Allen Stanford's $20m Twenty 20 showdown between England and Stanford all star team(west indies in a different name).

It is hard to believe but yes its cricket. Cricketers have never had it so good. All they got to do is play a match for 3 hours to secure their finances for the rest of their life's.

But this is not an one off tournament.Over the next five years Sir Alan Stanford will put his own $100m (£50m) for annual one-off winner-takes-all Twenty20 matches in the Caribbean between an England XI and the Stanford All Stars, a team that will be drawn from leading West Indian players.

With so much money at stack the players involved will try their level best to get into the team for the $20 million dollar twenty20 match. The England players have shown their intention. Mr. Alastair Cook England's opening batsmen saying that his sole visit to the Caribbean is to gain the million dollars. Then Capitan KP stepped in by warning England players not to act like "clowns" should they win.

So a more sensible Cook could use his £550,000 to buy 5,188 cricket bats for an orphanage, build a stadium,roll-out artificial pitches or antique sets of stumps and bails.Come on what was KP thinking,this is 1 million dollars they will act like crazy if they ever win, I mean who wouldn't??

Apart from the money there will be some cricket played too, and yesterdays warm-up match was a thrilling match.With the super stars beating the Egland tema by 1 run. Today the Super stars beat Middlesex Crusaders county comprehensively by 58 runs in the 5th match of the standford series.So who are the lucky few who have the chance to make a million bucks.

England 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior, 3 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 4 Owais Shah, 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Samit Patel, 8 Luke Wright, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 Steve Harmison.

So which means Cook has to dream some other day and poor James Anderson misses the cut too. I thought James Anderson will be in the final eleven as he is an regular in England's ODI squad but England are going with two spinners. Understandable as the pitches are generaly slow in the West Indies and the slower you bowl the harder it is to hit it.I don't know about the Stanford all star teams line up But my guesses are these players might be in the eleven as they performed well in the warm up games

*Daren Ganga (T&T), Shivnarine chanderpaul (T&T), Denesh Ramdin (T&T) , Dwayne Bravo (T&T),Slyvester Joseph (Antigua & Barbuda), Patrick Browne (Barbados), John Eugene (St. Maarten), Swenarine Chattergoon (Guyana), Andre Fletcher (Grenada), Dave Mohammed (T&T), Jerome Taylor (Jamaica), Daren Powell (Jamaica), Liam Sebastien (Dominica), Sulieman Benn (Barbados),Marlon Samuels (Jamaica) (for bowling, not batting),Xavier Marshall (Jamaica) and ofcourse Chris Gayle.

Some facts about the man who lured the English with Cash

Allen Stanford fact file

Born: March 24, 1950, Mexia, Texas
Role: Chairman of Stanford Financial Group
Net worth: $2bn
Ranked: 239th richest American
Knighted: November 2006, by the Antigua government. Also backs Stanford US Open Polo Championship, the Stanford Antigua Sailing Week and the PGA Tour Stanford St Jude Championship. He also sponsors tennis’ Masters Series.
Cricket: Stanford fell in love with it after living in the Caribbean for 20 years. Founded the Stanford 2020 in 2006 which he bankrolled to the tune of $28 million How to join cricket's new rich list Land ECB central contract and win bonuses - £500,000
Sign Indian Premier League contract - £1m
Win all five Stanford Twenty20 challenges - £2.5m

Lets hope we will get a match worth $20 million dollars

Are you Sports Crazy??

If you are sports crazy You have a Place to meet other Sports crazy fans.A new forum just for you.

The Sports fan deserves a forum to discuss the sport he loves.Though there are different forums for a particular sport,this is a unique intiative that allows all the sports to be discussed in a single forum.

This is the ultimate dream for any sports fan, a unique forum just for sports, an one of kind initiative.It will be the ultimate destination for sports lover residing in different parts of the world. The Forums is a host to a number of games starting from Cricket,football, basketball, baseball to golf and tennis. The forum holds discussion for most admired leagues like Indian premier League (IPL), Champions League Cricket(CLC),English Premier League (EPL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball League (NBA) and many more. In this way, sports crazy forum is the new hub of sports fans.

Apart from all forums, this website also provides space to video games(Arcade), which are of great demand amongst the teenagers as well as adults. The members of the forum can have photo gallery to show off your photo collection of your favourite teams.

Great forum to only and uniquely for Sports fan.I just registered

Sialkot Stallions - Pakistan's Best Twenty20 team - team review

Sialkot stallions is the only team representing Pakistan in the inaugural champions league Cricket, So they have the expectations of their entire country resting on them.

Before we review the team you should know about the history of the team as


One-day Name -Sialkot Stallions.
Coach -Shahid Anwar.
Captain -Shoaib Malik.
Founded -2002.
Home Ground -Jinnah Stadium (Sialkot).
First-class debut - Sheikhupura in 2002 at Lahore Country Club
Quaid-i-Azam Trophy wins: 1
National One-day Championship wins: 2
Twenty-20 Cup wins: 3



They are good team lead by Shoaib Malik (Pakistan captain), Once ranked number two in the world T20 rankings just behind the Victorian bushrangers Having said that they have lost a lot of players from their squad as they are playing for the ICL(Indian Cricket League).ICL players become automatically disqualified from playing the champions league which is an BCCI and IPL backed event with ICC support. ICL is considered as a rebel league by BCCI & IPL

This has weakened the side considerably as the teams bowling attack looks fragile with virtually no one with international experience but they do have plenty of first class cricket experience with them.

But we can hope that the batting will fire with players such as Shoaib malik, Kamran younis and Mansoor amjad playing well in the last RBS twenty20 cup. Spin may play a major part of the champions league as teams from Australia and South Africa tend to struggle against the tweakers. Shoaib malik should bowl more often than what he is bowling off late. Shoaib has modelled his action on Saqlain Mustaq a great One day bowler, infact was the fastest to reach 200 ODI wickets,So by logic his bowling, even if it is half as good as Saqlain's must be decent. Jokes apart, Shoaib really does under utilise himself.but he has no other option in champions league than to bowl himself.He has to bowl so that their team can afford another batsmen to strengthen their batting order.

Lets hope that team from pakistan lives upto the expectations of their countrymen.Any team from Pakistan is always welcomed liked their own in India and this one will be too. So they will get the crowd support provided they are not playing the two Indian teams in the League.

Adam Gilchrist apologises to sachin tendulkar

Gilchrist feeling the pressure of millions of angry Indian and cricket fans across the globe has finally succumbed to it and apologised for his comments against sachin tendulkar,

Adam Gilchrist apologised to Sachin Tendulkar over his 'liar, dishonest and sore loser" comments against Sachin Tendulkar

Gilchrist phoned Sachin Tendulkar today, and has reportedly apologised saying, 'Sorry'. Gilchrist also said that his comments were taken out of context by ,who else would it be?? other than our media.

Gilchrist also assured the master blaster that he will soon issue a clarification on this issue.

As I posted in the previous post no one can say something like that and remain loved by cricket fans. If gilchrist didnt make those comments,I hope he didnt then this issue will die soon, as both of these players have a lot more to offer for Indian cricket fans. Gilchrist had called Sachin Tendulkar, names like a "liar", "dishonest", "a sore loser" and a "bad sport" in his soon-to-be published autobiography "True Colors of My Life", over the Harbhajan-Symonds controversy. Gilchrist's remarks created a furore in India and abroad, forcing him to apologise.

Sachin Tendulkar also clarified that he received a call from adam gilchrist !!

It will be interesting what sort of welcome hyderabad fans will give for their team captain. May be its time to move on!! Only good thing to come out of this issue is that now gilly's autobiography is all set sell like hot cakes.

Champions League T20 Cricket 2008 Schedule Announced

The Eight Teams have been divided into two groups:

Group A

• Chennai Super Kings (IPL T20 runners-up)
• Victoria Bushrangers (Australia)
• Nashua Titans (South Africa)
• Middlesex Crusaders (England)

Group B

• Sialkot Stallions (Pakistan T20 champions)
• Rajasthan Royals (IPL T20 champions)
• Western Warriors (Western Australia)
• Nashua Dolphins (South Africa)

Schedule

Dec 5, Friday
Middlesex Crusaders vs Victoria Bushrangers,Mumbai
Rajasthan Royals vs Natal Dolphins,Chennai

Dec 6,Saturday

Western Australia vs Natal Dolphins,Bangalore
Victoria Bushrangers vs Pretoria Titans
Chennai Super Kings vs Middlesex Crusaders,Chennai

Dec 7, Sunday

Natal Dolphins vs Sialkot Stallions
Rajasthan Royals vs Western Warriors, Bangalore
Chennai Super Kings vs Pretoria Titans, Chennai

Dec 8, Monday
First Semi-Final -

1st(Group B) vs 2nd(Group A),Bangalore

Dec 9, Tuesday
Second Semi-Final -

1st(Group A) vs 2nd(Group B), Chennai

Dec 10, Wednesday

Final

1st SemiFinal Winner vs 2nd SemiFinal Winner, Chennai

Wow!! Finally Chennai gets to host something. Chennai has been crying for some good cricket for years!! Hope the chennai super kings or rajasthan royals enter the finals.Better still let the final be a repeat of IPL.

Gilchrist slams Sachin - In his autobiography-sachin a sore loser

Adam Gilchrist the Australian Wicket keeper Batsman and Deccan chargers captain has supposedly lashed out on Sachin Tendulkar in his upcoming Autobiography.

He claims that Sachin had changed his stance in Sydney Test fiasco involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds. He points out that in the beginning sachin claimed that he didn't hear what harbhajan said and then he changed his stance in the second hearing in which he said that he was actually using a Hindi word which sounded similar to monkey.

Gilchrist also calls "Sachin a Sore loser". He says that he can never find sachin for a handsake when India loses a match.

But My question is Why did Mr.Adam Gilchrist a wonderful Cricketer like him after years of cricket behind him say something like this, when the thing has been down adn dusted for over a year now??
The answer may be he just wants to sell his book.

Money makes people go mad!!

By the way he will be leading the Deccan chargers Side in IPL, I dont the fans of Hyderabad will be happy if Gilly leads a side if he did release his book with these remarks about Sachin.

Gilly was an very popular and cherished cricketer by the cricket crazy fans of India But I doubt he will be anymore. You cannot call Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar a Sore Loser and be loved by Indians it is as simple as that.

Sachin being the man he is will not reply to this, because he is to good a man to get involved in a diatribe.

Please vote so lets know what sachins fan think about gilchrist claims.

India Thrash Australia in Mohali Test by a whopping 320 runs margin

What a day for Indian cricket and what a test match. From the start of this test match India has played flawless cricket and the Australian were clueless as what hit them.Indian bowlers mesmerized and bamboozled the Australians today and thrashed them by 320-run with more than two sessions to spare in the second Cricket Test in Mohali on Tuesday.

Indians took just one-and-half hours and 18.4 overs to clean up the Australian tail which didn't wag as it did in the first innings, thoroughly pounded and humiliated, Australians were subjected to one of their worst defeats ever in Indian sub-continent.India now leads the series 1-0.

Australian captain Ricky Pointing said " We lost the match in the first innings, with India scoring 469 we needed to get near that score but we didnt, from then on we needed to play a perfect game to win but we didnt. India deserved to win as they outplayed us in all the departments. But we have champions players in our side and you can never count them out"As Ricky said It was too much to expect the lower middle order batsmen and tail-enders to do what their front-line willow-wielders could not and Australia eventually folded for 195.

With respect to India, India's batting looks ominous with prince of kolkata firing in the first innings. I think dad wants to prove a point before he leaves, But as fat as I am concerned he doesn't have to prove anything he is a champion already and will be remembered as one of India's greatest ever captain.

It will be a hard for the selectors to drop Amit mishra and bring Kumble back into the side after the former's performance. Dhoni lead the side in an aggressive manner and that gave much dividends in the way the bowlers responded.Dhoni has an aura around him that commands respect from his fellow team mates. It will be interesting to see what the selectors do for the next match.

But it is always good to have a problem of plenty than scarcity. Australians will look to bounce back but I doubt they will even get close to winning the next test match, if india plays like what it did in the past five days.In the end the entire world will be happy to see this result as we have shown to them that Australia ain't invincible anymore.

Cheers!!

Leave you with some of the Images from the test

Champions League Cricket T20 - 2009 postponed by Two Weeks

As the International Cricket Council (ICC) rescheduled the Champions Trophy following the Bomb blast in Marriot hotel in Pakistan and the Australian team refusing to play in Pakistan citing security concerns, the second edition of the Champions League Cricket Twenty20 next year has been postponed by two weeks.

The second edition of the Champions League Twenty20 was earlier scheduled to be held from September 25 to October 10 next year but it will now be held from October 10 to 23 after the ICC rescheduled the Champions Trophy from September 24 to October 5, 2009.

"This (rescheduling of Champions League Twenty20) was a goodwill response to a request from the International Cricket Council (ICC) to consider new playing dates for 2009," a joint statement of the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI), Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa said today.

The good news is Twelve teams will take part in the competition.

The inaugural Champions League Twenty20 will be held in India from December 3 to 10 this year. Eight teams -- winners and runners-up from the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa, plus the Twenty20 champion Sialkot from Pakistan, and Twenty20 champion from England, Middlesex, will contest the 2008 Champions Twenty20 League.

The tournament has a USD 6 million prize fund, out of which the winning team will get USD 3 million.

Sachin Tendulkar Interview - After Breaking the Record for Highest Test Runs

Watch Sachin Tendulkar's interview after end of the First days play at Mohali. Sachin Tendulkar Talks To Ravi shastri about his new record.



He also send s a powerful message to all his fan through this video. I quote from the video

"I made the stones thrown at me into milestones"

Lets learn from Our Greatest Champion!!

Sachin Gets the Record!!, breaks Lara’s record for most runs in Test match cricket

Sachin tendulkar has finally broken the record of Brain lara.Tendulkar has emerged as the highest run-getter in Test cricket's history, staking a legitimate claim as the best batsman cricket has known since Don Bradman, both aesthetically and statistically.

Peter Siddle sent down the first ball of the post-tea session. Tendulkar glided it to third man for three runs to surpass Lara's record of 11,953 runs and raise the bar even higher for posterity.

Tendulkar's satatistics are mind-blowing, I doubt will this record will ever be broken again for no one starts playing at the age of sixteen and continues playing for 18 years in contemporary cricket.

Tendulkar arrived here with 11,939 runs against his name from 151 Tests, averaging 54.02 hitting 39 centuries in the process. His ODI record put together-- he tops the run-accumulator's chart there too with 16,361 runs -- Tendulkar has scored more than 25,000 international runs with the help of a mindboggling (42+39) 81 centuries and 138 half-centuries.


A great gift For Diwali by sachin to his die-hard fans, Just Like me!!

espn star cricket has won the rights for champions league cricket twenty t20

ESPN Star Sports has secured the ten-year commercial rights for the Champions League Twenty20 with a $975 million bid.

The deal gives ESPN STAR Sports the exclusive Global Commercial Rights for all the matches in the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 season, due to be held from December 3 to 10, 2008, and for all further Champions League Twenty20 seasons until 2017.

"We are absolutely delighted that after a fair and transparent process, we have what we believe to be the best commercial deal for the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 season and for cricket fans across the world.

"All the bids received were of a very high standard and we would like to thank all of the organisations that participated and for their submissions," commissioner of Indian Premier League (IPL) Lalit Modi said in a press release.

The Commercial Rights were won by ESPN STAR Sports with a bid of USD $ 975 million. This makes the Champions League Twenty20 the highest value cricket tournament on a per game basis.

Bids were also received from Abu Dhabi Sports Club and DIC for what is viewed as the most exciting sporting extravaganza for cricket fans all over the world. All the bids were opened in Dubai today. While DIC's bid was US $ 751.3 million, Abu Dhabi Sports Club's bid was disqualified for being a conditional bid


"We're extremely pleased at having won the Global Commercial Rights to the new and exciting Champions League Twenty20. This is a testament to our commitment to the game of cricket and fans as we cement our relationship with the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.

"Through our television channels - ESPN, STAR Sports & STAR Cricket, our website www.espnstar.com, and our wireless platforms mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile, we are confident of taking the Champions League Twenty20 to new heights by working along with the various partners involved and are committed to setting new benchmarks in the broadcast and distribution, such that fans of this crowd-pulling format can look forward to an exciting time when the league begins this December," Manu Sawhney, MD ESPN STAR Sports, said in the same release.

'With ESPN STAR Sports as our Commercial Rights Partner we are now certain this fantastic new competition will reach discerning cricket fans across the globe. The Champions League Twenty20 will build on the success of domestic Twenty20 leagues in Australia and elsewhere in a manner which accelerates the development of cricket globally.

"Now with ESPN STAR Sports as our global Commercial Rights Partner I think that the benefits of this global event will flow down to the interstate cricket level in Australia and in other participant nations, and greatly enhance cricket at the grass roots level, particularly for state-level players who get the chance to pit their skills against players from around the world," James Sutherland, CEO of Cricket Australia, said.

Rajasthan royals- One down!! one to go!!

Rajasthan Royals would be under pressure to perform during the inaugural Champions League twenty20 cricket tournament as they have to maintain the same intensity level, which helped them become IPL champions. But having said that it is really hard for them to maintain the same intenstiy levels as the teams and conditions are changing.

Sohail Tanvir was an outstanding performer for the Royals playing as he emerged as best bowler of the event and played a key role in his team's title win. And he too feels the pressure

"There will be pressure on not only me but the entire Rajasthan team in the Champions League as we have to reproduce the same sort of good and consistent performances that allowed us to win the IPL," I was looking forward to challenge and excitement of the Champions League which will also feature the Twenty20 champion teams from Australia, Pakistan, England and South Africa.Tanvir said.

Apart from the IPL winners, Chennai Super kings -- the runners-up will take part in the inaugural Champions League to be played at three venues in India this December with a $3 million purse for the winners.

As they say "when things get tough the tough get going"

lets wait and watch. I hope rajasthan royals Win!!

Pakistan's Sialkot Stallions joins Champions League cricket twenty20

Pakistan's newly crowned Twenty20 champions -- Sialkot Stallions will now be a part of this year's Champions Twenty20 League, Lalit Modi, Chairman of the Champions League Twenty20 and vice-president BCCI announced on Friday.

Sialkot, led by national captain Shoaib Malik, notched up a narrow seven-wicket victory in the final over Shahid Afridi-led Karachi Dolphins at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday. And now they will join two teams each from India, Australia and South Africa and England’s Middlesex in the eight-team competition.

The teams are for the competition will be Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings (India), Western Australia Warriors and Victoria Bushrangers (Australia), Titans and Dolphins (South Africa), Middlesex (England) and Sialkot Stallions (Pakistan).

"The participation of Sialkot Stallions in the inaugural Champions Twenty20 League makes the tournament complete in all respects. We are very happy to have Sialkot Stallions among the participating teams. The Pakistani team, led by Shoaib Malik, will make the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 more competitive and interesting," said Lalit Modi.

The teams will be competing for a prize pool of US$6 million in the Champions League Twenty20 which is a ten-day inaugural tournament to be played at Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore from December 3 to 10 inclusive.

The eight teams are the finalists in the various domestic leagues, as per regulations of the League and will play 15 matches. The number will move up to 12 teams playing 23 matches from year two.

The teams will be divided into two groups of four teams each. After the preliminary league matches, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals and their winners will clash in the grand finale in Mumbai on December 10.

Three cities to host T20 Champions League cricket matches

Organizers for the Twenty20 Champions League picked Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai as venues for the inaugural tournament.

Lalit Modi, chairman of the Champions League board, announced the selections for the Dec. 2-10 event in a statement Thursday.

The Champions League will feature the leading provincial teams from India, Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan.

The top two teams from the domestic Twenty20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa will be featured in the US$6-million tournament. One team each from England and Pakistan will complete the lineup.

India will be represented by Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, the champion and losing finalist of the inaugural Indian Premier League played earlier this year.

Western Australia Warriors and Victoria Bushrangers are the Australian teams, while South Africa will send Titans and Dolphins. England is represented by its Twenty20 champion county Middlesex.

Pakistan's entry will be the winner of its domestic Twenty20 championship, which will start on Oct. 4.

Welcome to Champions League T20 cricket blog

Indian premier league (IPL) was an resounding success!! 8 teams fighting it out for the coveted title . We had 59 awesome matches and a great winner in Rajasthan royals. Shane Warne's underdogs not only have won the IPL but now have a chance to lift the Champions league of Cricket. This league format much Like IPL is taken straight out of the Football leagues in Europe. As in UEFA Champions league top two T20 teams from South Africa, England,Australia,Pakistan and of course India are playing for the title this year!!

Champions League Twenty20 is the platform for the best twenty20 domestic teams in the world to compete for a US$6 million dollar prize. It's the league of champions .Three member boards of Australia, South Africa and India have worked together to make the champions meet in what promises to be one heck of a league.

The inaugural edition of the league will be hosted in Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai, and promises to provide seven glorious days of Twenty20 cricket. The eight competing teams are made up of the champion and runner-up from Twenty20 competitions played in the founding board countries, plus the champions of England and Pakistan. In 2009, Champions League Twenty20 will increase to twelve teams.

More Info about the League:

Champions League Cricket 2008 Schedule
Champions League Teams
Champions League Team Reviews



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