Why the Stanford Superstars will claim the money
Kevin Pietersen and co will miss out on a big payday
The England players are all singing from the same hymn sheet, promising their adoring public that they would much rather win the Ashes than beat the Stanford Superstars and claim a million dollars each. But that selfless approach could prove costly when they collide with the West Indies’ Twenty20 stars in Antigua next month. Here’s why England will miss out on the jackpot:
» After winning just one of their first five games, against England at the Oval incidentally, the West Indies have won two of their three Twenty20 games over the last year.
» Last December they were victorious in South Africa against a side that had won six of its previous seven contests and in June they triumphed by seven wickets over an Australia team that had won five of its last eight.
» The West Indies win percentage in Twenty20 action (when counting ties as halves) stands at 43.75 per cent, marginally better than England’s 42.85 per cent success rate.
» Their last two wins came against countries with superior Twenty20 win records while England’s last three came against a New Zealand side who are weaker. Prior to those games, England had a woeful 27.27% win percentage.
» In his two previous appearances against the West Indies in Twenty20 action, England captain Kevin Pietersen averaged just 17.5 runs compared to his overall Twenty20 average of 25.93.
» Pietersen has been one of England’s two top run scorers in four of their last five Twenty20 internationals so if he fails to deliver against the West Indies again, the visitors are in trouble.
» West Indies captain Chris Gayle has produced excellent batting performances in his most recent contests against England in test (52 runs), one day (82 runs) and Twenty20 cricket (61 runs).
» Dwayne Bravo has been ruled out for the Superstars with an ankle injury. This is good news though because he took just one run from two clashes with England last summer.
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Posted: October 30th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment 
