COOLIDGE (Antigua), Nov 2: The Stanford Superstars made the quickest million dollars of any group of cricketers in history after thrashing England by 10 wickets in the Stanford Twenty20 finale here on Saturday.

Chasing a target of just 100 runs, the Superstars, a collection of experienced and promising West Indian players, pulverised England with more than seven overs to spare.

Superstars captain Chris Gayle had the privilege of hitting the winning runs, when he lofted Andrew Flintoff for the last of his five sixes in an unbeaten 65 off 45 balls over long-on to spark tumultuous celebrations around the Stanford Cricket Ground.The victory meant that all members of the Superstars XI became instant millionaires, pocketing exactly one million dollars each.

Meanwhile a further one million dollars was split between the Superstars squad players who didn’t play on Saturday and the victorious coaching staff.

The remaining prize money in the 20 million dollar pot will be shared between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

But the England team got nothing after losing this winner-takes-all clash.

Officials at the ECB have signed a five-year contract with Stanford for the team’s participation in this event.

Allen Stanford, the man behind the Caribbean’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, said he hoped this victory would provide a springboard for renewed West Indies success at the international level.

England had been dismissed for just 99 in one ball short of their permitted 20 overs, after choosing to bat under the lights on a hard, easy-paced pitch.

Andre Fletcher, who finished on 32 not out, smashed four consecutive boundaries off Stuart Broad in the second over of the innings.

Gayle subsequently destroyed Stephen Harmison in a sensational fifth over that cost England’s premier fast bowler 22 runs and concluded with the Test left-hander middling two straight hits for six.

Earlier, England’s batsmen paid a heavy price for cavalier batting against mean, purposeful bowling supported by sharp fielding.

Samit Patel’s 22 was the top score in an innings where only two other batsmen — Matt Prior (12) and Paul Collingwood (10) — got to double figures.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND:

I.R. Bell b Taylor 7

M.J. Prior b Taylor 12

O.A. Shah c Mohammed b Sammy 4

K.P. Pietersen b Sammy 7

A. Flintoff b Pollard 8

P.D. Collingwood c Sarwan b Benn 10

S.R. Patel run out 22

L.J. Wright c Sammy b Pollard 1

G.P. Swann b Benn 3

S.C.J. Broad not out 9

S.J. Harmison b Benn 6

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-9) 10

TOTAL (all out, 19.5 overs) 99

FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-22, 3-29, 4-33, 5-51, 6-54, 7-59, 8-63, 9-92.

BOWLING: Sammy 4-0-13-2 (1w); Taylor 4-0-25-2 (2w); Powell 4-0-18-0 (1w); Benn 3.5-0-16-3; Pollard 4-0-26-2 (3w).

STANFORD SUPERSTARS:

C.H. Gayle not out 65

A.D.S. Fletcher not out 32

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3) 4

TOTAL (for no wkt, 12.4 overs) 101

DID NOT BAT: R.R. Sarwan, S. Chanderpaul, S. Joseph, K.A. Pollard, D.J.G. Sammy, S.J. Benn, D. Mohammed, J.E. Taylor, D.B.L. Powell

BOWLING: Harmison 3-0-30-0; Broad 3-0-24-0 (1w); Flintoff 3.4-0-25-0; Patel 1-0-9-0; Collingwood 1-0-4-0 (1w); Swann 1-0-8-0 (1w).

RESULT: Stanford Superstars won by 10 wickets.

UMPIRES: S.J.A. Taufel (Australia) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: S.J. Davis (Australia)

MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Darren Sammy.

—AFP