Allen Stanford - file

The Stanford 20/20 cricket tournament has ended with a thrilling victory for Guyana over Trinidad and Tobago and lots of money in the pockets of players from both countries.

Winners, Guyana, collected a cool US$1m while the runners-up Trinidad and Tobago got half that amount. In fact, captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and his fellow Guyanese shared US$1.125m from the final as the man of the match, Travis Dowlin, got US$100,000 while Narsingh Deonarine pocketed US$25,000 for play of the game.

No praise can be too high for Antigua-based American businessman Allen Stanford, the man who organised and financed the tournament. Cricket in the Caribbean needed a real shot in the arm and he has provided this. The organisation was of the highest quality and a great deal of planning must have gone into putting together the tournament.

The clothing and black bats was innovative. Night cricket was new to the Caribbean. The flag-waving crowds came out in large numbers to support the players and the excitement reached fever pitch during the semi-finals and final.

Inexperienced players

Money, which was provided by Stanford to help prepare the teams for the tournament, appeared to be well spent. The semi-finalists - Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Grenada and Nevis - were all well prepared. I was particularly impressed with the fielding of most the teams. It is true that there were several dropped catches but most were fairly difficult and a majority were spilt by inexperienced players from countries such as Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

There has been criticism in some quarters that the tournament did not produce any new talent. I disagree. With some players off with the West Indies A team which is now in England and others preferring not to play for personal reasons, a few got the chance to shine on the big stage.

The 19-year-old allrounder Kieron Pollard from Trinidad and Tobago would possibly not have played if West Indies standouts, Dwayne Bravo and captain Brian Lara, were available. He, however, took his chance with both hands and was one of the stars in Antigua. His clean hitting in both the semi-finals and the final was the best seen in the tournament. He is one that the selectors should keep an eye on as he also bowls a tidy medium pace.

There is also the wicketkeeper/batsman Andre Fletcher from Grenada and Nevis' Tonito Willett who has been around for some time. These players should be brought into a larger squad for the upcoming 2007 World Cup to keep the more established players on their toes. Willett, like Pollard, also bowls and the Nevisian hit the highest score of the tournament.

What of the future of the tournament? Nothing concrete has been said as yet, but one would hope that the organiser would, with his very deep pockets, make it an annual affair for at least another three years. During this he can improve the marketing of the tournament and look to earn money from television rights. If the latter is achieved we may well have the tournament annually for many more years.