September 06, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 12, 1427

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ST JOHN’S (Antigua), Sept 5: After a week of uncertainty over the future of the Stanford 20/20 Super Star match between South Africa and West Indies planned for Nov 10, Allen Stanford has confirmed that the game will not go ahead.

At a press conference on Monday, Stanford outlined the sequence of events that led to his decision, while Wes Hall, who hosted the meeting, added that Stanford had been ‘distraught’ when he called to advise him of the cancellation last week.

“The man was truly hurt by the chain of events that led to the only decision he could come to,” Hall said.

Stanford was clearly unhappy as he explained his position. “We have done everything right. I have done everything I said I would do and more. We obtained approval from the ruling body for cricket eight months ago, invited and involved the West Indies board in everything that we are doing. Many of the legends are part of the West Indies Cricket Board.

However, Stanford added that the South Africans would be invited again to play a Super Star team in mid-2008.

Hopes that the match could go ahead had been raised last week with an announcement by Shaharyar M. Khan, the PCB chairman, that they were willing to ‘bend over backwards’ to accommodate the WICB and Stanford.

The PCB were willing to revise the itinerary of the West Indies' tour to Pakistan in November by a few days so that the Super Star match could be played — the original conundrum was that the contest was scheduled for Nov 10, whereas accordipng to the touring schedule, West Indies would be in Pakistan by then with the first Test due to begin on Nov 11. —Agencies