The
Stanford 20/20 Tournament was a
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
tournament in the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
island of
AntiguaAntigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
. It was held first in July and August 2006 in the West Indies at the Stanford Cricket Ground,
St. John's, Antigua and BarbudaSt John's is the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, a country located in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. St John's is located at...
and the same place the year after. It is a variety of the popular
Twenty20Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
format first introduced in English cricket in 2003.
The format was initially devised and made possible by
Allen StanfordRobert Allen Stanford is a former prominent financier and sponsor of professional sports who is in prison awaiting trial on charges his investment company was a massive Ponzi scheme and fraud. Stanford was the chairman of the now defunct Stanford Financial Group of Companies. A fifth-generation...
as a part of his (private) plan to bring West Indian cricket back to life. 19 teams took part in the inaugural knock-out tournament and 20 teams took part in the second tournament (although 21 teams were originally scheduled to take part). The 2008 season was part of the official calendar of the
WICBThe West Indies Cricket Board is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in the West Indies...
.
Teams
| Anguilla Pro Team Antigua & Barbuda Pro Team Bahamas Barbados Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Cuba (in 2008 [barred]) |
Dominica
Grenada Guyana Jamaica Montserrat Nevis Pro Team |
Saint Kitts Saint Lucia Pro Team Saint Maarten Saint Vincent & the Grenadines Trinidad & Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands (in 2008) United States Virgin Islands |
In August 2007 the Stanford 20/20 Board of Directors announced the formation of further six professional teams in addition to the one previously established in Antigua & Barbuda as part of the Stanford 20/20 Professional League programme. Of the then seven teams Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Nevis and Saint Lucia took part in the 2008 edition.
Qualifying
In the three Qualifying matches United States Virgin Islands beat Sint Maarten by 48 runs, Cayman Islands beat Bahamas by 57 runs and Saint Lucia beat British Virgin Islands by 7 wickets.
Round of 16 onwards
Winner
In an amazing run chase against Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana emerged as the 2006 Stanford 20/20 Champions .
2008 tournament
Initially it was planned to include two additional teams from the region in the 2008 competition, Cuba and the Turks and Caicos Islands, increasing the number of teams participating to twenty-one (21). However, since the application required by US citizens (such as Stanford himself) and organisations to interact with the island under the
United States embargo against CubaThe United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960...
has been turned down,
Sint Maarten, Cuba's destined opponent in the preliminary round, received a bye.
Preliminary matches
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Brackets
Round of 16
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Quarter-Finals
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Semi-Finals
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Final
Winner
Coming back from the 2006 performance as runners-up when they were beaten by Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago emerged as the 2008 Stanford 20/20 Champions by beating Jamaica by 9 wickets in the final.