A 32-member Stanford Superstars Twenty20 squad has been announced for the US$20 million winner-takes-all match against England on November 1. The squad includes Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo, as well as notable performers from the Stanford Twenty20 domestic tournament.
"This is a squad of the best performers in the two editions of the Stanford 20/20 tournament we've had so far and the best players in the region," Viv Richards, the chairman of the seven-member selection committee, said. "It was a difficult task to select the top 32 but our selection panel believes that these players will provide us with the firepower and all the other resources to prevail over England in what is the richest prize in team sport history."
Richards said the squad would be whittled down based on how the players fare in training. "The difficult task of further reducing this training group to the playing squad lies ahead, so we will have to pay keen attention to how the players cope in the training camps which will be held in Antigua in the coming months."
Dave Mohammed, the left-arm spinner who won the Player-of-the-Tournament award last season, provides spin-bowling options along with his Trinidad team-mate Samuel Badree, the legspinner, while John Eugene, the only centurion in Stanford 20/20 history, is the oldest player in the mix at 37. The squad includes four wicketkeepers, with Denesh Ramdin the likely contender for selection ahead of Andre Fletcher, Lyndon James and Aldermond Lemond.
Eldine Baptiste, the former West Indies and Antigua allrounder, has been appointed the head coach, and he will be assisted by Roger Harper and Anguilla coach Cardigan Connor. The squad will be trimmed down once the dates for the preparatory camp are announced.
Stanford Superstars squad: Samuel Badree, Lionel Baker, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Lennox Cush, Travis Dowlin, Rayad Emrit, John Eugene, Andre Fletcher, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Chad Hampson, Monctin Hodge, Danza Hyatt, Lyndon James, Sylvester Joseph, Aldermond Lesmond, Xavier Marshall, Dave Mohammed, Nelon Pascal, William Perkins, Kieron Pollard, Daren Powell, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Kelbert Walters, Tonito Willett.
