Well well, where do I start when I try and round up the Stanford Twenty20 for $20m competition?! As you all know, we looked like a bunch of amateurs when trying to bat, and I don’t think any of the players would get into local club cricket batting like that! After everything that happened during the week, all the players had to think about when going out to bat was that – bat – and they failed miserably.

I mentioned to the people I was watching it with that on a slow pitch like that, I would have preferred to chase a target – it wouldn’t have made a difference to the outcome on the day such was the lack of quality from England, but when you don’t know what a good target to set is, you have no idea knowing how to come out batting. Still, almost everyone made a mistake getting out and it just wasn’t the spectacle that everyone wanted in such a high profile game. It wasn’t the superstars fault – they showed that they wanted the victory which the England players didn’t (how you don’t show it when there is $1m per person up for grabs I don’t know!), and I’m glad they won it in the end and celebrated in the right fashion.

Who knows what the future will hold for England and this competition, I hope they go back as there is no doubt that it creates a bit of interest, I just hope the media stop complaining about and embrace it if it does happen. Take me along ECB and I’ll create some positivity (and have a nice holiday in the sun!).

The amount of crap journalism coming out of the British Press right now is quite astounding. It must be a slow news week for them to spend all week talking about small incidental things happening at the Stanford cricket ground like the organiser having a bit of a laugh (shock horror, someone having fun in the Caribbean), and all of a sudden they are all coming out one after another like little sheep saying “this was bound to happen”, and my favourite over reaction calling it a “tacky circus of an egotistical American”. Get over yourselves, and stop thinking cricket is still in the early 1900’s.

When England were first invited to take part in the competition the press were falling over themselves to get a piece of Alan Stanford and saying how good it was this type of money was coming into the game of cricket in this country. Then, as soon as the “action” starts they start moaning that its all about the money, or Stanford himself. Which way do you want it?!

The facilities at the ground are said to be first class (or better than if you look at some county grounds in this country) – yes there have been some issues with the lights but they have said they will rectify that before the big game on Saturday. The pitch has been a bit slow and low but guess what, they had a hurricane about 10 days before the games started so to even get it on is an achievement (ask Worcestershire how long it takes them to recover after a light sprinkling of rain in comparison).

“Its all about Alan Stanford” – is one thing they are saying and here’s some news for you – no it isn’t! I’ve watched the games and guess what, I’ve seen more cricket than I have one American billionaire (who lets not forget is putting a load of money into our game as a consequence). And seeing as he is bankrolling it who’s to care if he has a camera on him every now and then? It doesn’t detract from the game going on.

I just don’t get what the media are trying to gain by all this – they are just following one another seeing as being down on the competition seems to be the “done” thing at the moment (and not just cricket – ask the people at Radio 2). Maybe instead you would prefer to be sitting in an office in London twiddling your thumbs rather than on a beach in Antigua reporting on a ground breaking game of cricket. If I was Stanford I wouldn’t invite the ECB back again anyway seeing how ungrateful they are appearing to be – get a team over that will embrace the competition and the atmosphere rather than one moaning about how they’d rather be at home.

The Stanford Twenty20 excitement is building up now with only a few days to go until the first game on the 25th October. Sky have started their adverts and worryingly, I think they are going to be using those bizarre black bats from what I’ve seen on the promo’s! Not that it matters too much, its all about the money!

Or rather, according to KP it isn’t thanks to the global credit crunch – they won’t be celebrating too wildly if they do win. Come on KP, it isn’t the players fault that there is a load of money coming into cricket right now, and don’t hold back and take the moral high ground as this is a chance for a lot of players to secure their futures so let them enjoy it (if they win).

The games are at pretty good times for us UK folk, with games starting around 9pm in the evening and it could be a good opportunity for a few beers and some (hopefully) entertaining cricket, especially on the 1st Nov and the “big” match. It seems an age since we had some cricket so I’m looking forward to it! And don’t forget the best place to keep up to date with the latest cricket news from around the globe is LiveCricketUpdates.com

P.S. Fantastic to see the Aussies battered by India this past week – we can beat them next summer! Only bad thing is we’ve got to play India in the same conditions in December first when we’ll probably do even worse!

We had a number of bits of news released last week including the centrally contracted players for the next 12 months and the squad to go to the West Indies to play for mega-money. There are no real surprises in the Twenty20 squad if you’ve been watching the recent ODI’s and that’s probably a good thing. The players then showed that they could play together as a unit well, and they are all good Twenty20 players so there was no need to bring in specialists such as Graham Napier (even though he has now injured himself playing for Essex).

The layout for the Stanford competition week looks pretty good, building up to the main event between England and the Super Stars on November 1st. There is a round robin type event including Middlesex as they won the Twenty20 this summer, and it should hopefully provide some entertaining cricket. When the domestic West Indian Twenty20 took place they used bizarre looking black cricket bats which I hope we won’t be seeing – I’m all for innovation but that is too far!

October 25: Stanford Super Stars v Trinidad and Tobago
October 26: England v Middlesex
October 27: Trinidad and Tobago v Middlesex
October 28: England v Trinidad and Tobago
October 29: Stanford Super Stars v Middlesex
November 1: Stanford Super Stars v England

I’ve shown the match schedule above – I’m not sure if the games leading up to the monster money final have any ridiculous prize fees to be won, or if the other teams are just getting a good lump sum for the whole thing, but I’m sure they won’t be out of pocket…

England v Middlesex will be an intriguing tie – on paper it will look a bit silly who should win (England, of course), but the Middlesexians (their new nickname from me) will be fired up to prove everyone wrong. I take it that Shah will be playing for England rather than his county, so that could be a very interesting matchup!

This is going to be a short post seeing as I managed to break my finger taking a caught and bowled on Saturday (yes, I kept hold of the ball!), and typing isn’t proving the easiest thing to do in the world at the moment, but I didnt want to let the finals day go past without saying anything.

Despite my prediction of two teams getting to the final being slightly incorrect, I was nearly correct with my choice of winner! It was a great final (aside of the pain I was in whilst watching it), really tense and never sure which way it was going. It was everything you want in Twenty20 cricket, great entertainment, big shots and commentators going over the top – you can see why it has such a high profile at the moment.

So, congrats to Middlesex who will be off to the West Indies later this year to take on Stanford’s winners – along with the “Champions League” (although this still waits to be confirmed). The players will reap the rewards and hopefully play some entertaining cricket along the way like Saturday!

P.S. If I disappear for a week or two its probably due to my lack of typing ability, but I’ll try to keep updated!

Seeing as we’re all too depressed to talk about test cricket, we can instead look towards Twenty20 finals day! It takes place this Saturday at the Rose Bowl, and it should be a great day of cricket at a great ground.

With the final quarter final delayed, it was eventually played yesterday and Durham beat Glamorgan to seal their semi final against Middlesex in the second semi which will be played on the day. Durham have a powerful team with some well known players in Collingwood, Plunkett, Harmison let alone Chanderpaul and Pollock who are also in there as overseas/kolpak players. Middlesex aren’t quite as big in terms of names, but players such as youngster David Malan have shown that this competition can make names rather than be bossed by them, and he has been backed up by a proper “team” ethic. Tim Murtagh has been taking a lot of wickets, and they’ll also have Shaun Udal in there who will know how to bowl at the Rose Bowl having played there for the past few years with Hampshire.

In the first semi final we have probably the two most fancied teams on the day in Kent and Essex. Essex have been a revelation this year, and one player in particular who has made the game his own is all rounder Graham Napier. There will be a lot of expectation on his shoulders on finals day, and it will be a good test of him, but there are others in the team such as Ten Doeschate also playing well, and in James Foster they probably have the in-form keeper. Kent have been strongly fancied from the start, with Key and Denly at the top of the order backed up by run machine Van Jaasveld, allrounders Mclaren and Mahmood and Arafat taking wickets for fun at the moment they are a very powerful looking side.

So who am I backing for the win…. I think that the two what I’ve called “powerful” sides will get through to the final – Kent have a lot of good experienced players who, as long as they can keep Napier down, should have the beating of Essex. In the second semi, Durham have too good a side to back against them, although this isn’t really Chanderpaul’s type of game and wiley Middlesex might just have a chance, but its a slim one.

So a Kent vs Durham final then…. I could have a very good case for backing either of these teams such is their ability and I fully expect people to disagree, but I’m going to stick my neck on the block and go for Kent. The way that Twenty20 cricket goes though, it could well be that neither of them makes the final! Let me know who you think will do well this Saturday! Now, which way was it to the bookies….