Allen Stanford, remember that name? No? Not a surprise really.
When West Indians are focused on the biggest party in sport, who has time to remember a man who was a party to the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on West Indian sport?
On Republic Day, a lady who lives on my street went to the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba to watch Kieron Pollard’s Trinbago Knight Riders take on the eventual 2024 CPL champions, Saint Lucia Kings.
She did not have the slightest idea who Stanford was. But she did not know any more about Johnson Charles or Faf du Plessis.
She was completely in the dark about what the Kings’ victory meant for the home side’s position in the standings. She didn’t care.
“The lime was real nice!” she gushed. “I don’t know when last I had so much fun! Yuh know who not missing CPL next year!”
Photo: Ashley Allen – CPL T20/CPL T20 via Getty Images
So, spare a thought for the American investor who was arrested, charged and sentenced for fraud in 2009. Had he not seized upon the opportunity to cash in early on the T20 craze then sweeping the world of cricket, we’d certainly not have been talking about Aaron Jones all last week.
And there were hundreds of women and children present for the Barbados-born American allrounder’s match-winning innings, although they don’t know the difference between second slip and a half-slip!
Stanford’s Legends tournament, which began in 2006, was short-lived. His idea was to use the renown of the numerous living West Indian cricketing legends and, perhaps by osmosis, raise the profile of each of the participating teams to which he attached these worthy, high-profile gentlemen.
Hell, he went so far as to build his own ground in Antigua, which has now been added to the pool of cricket resources in the region.
Photo: Randy Brooks/ CPL T20 via Getty Images
For the first time, the West Indian public was exposed to the American-style franchise model in sport with all its razzle-dazzle and glamour and glitter! And eventually, as we now see every year in the CPL, massive merchandising and fan-based paraphernalia galore.
To fill the gap left by the collapse of Stanford’s initiative, in 2013, the WICB launched the CPL to replace the Caribbean T20 League as the major T20 competition in the region.
Suddenly, players found themselves earning serious money. For young and upcoming players, present and past players alike, there were opportunities for contracts as players, coaches, consultants, commentators and so on.
Since then, franchise cricket has grown exponentially (as Ian Bishop might say) and taken over the world. There are franchise tournaments in all the established Test-playing nations and then some—such as Dubai, Sharjah, the USA and Canada.
Photo: Ashley Allen/ CPL T20 via Getty Images
Republic Bank Limited (RBL), headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago, has officially adopted the CPL. It’s a dream marriage since RBL has operations in Anguilla, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Maarten, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname.
New Zealand’s Danny Morrison and Barbados’ Alex Jordan never cease to loudly remind televiewers—as each franchise-hosting entity competes to outdo all others and grab television attention and its moment in the sun or under the lights—that the CPL is the biggest party in sport.
After 12 editions, they insist, the CPL is now (barring India’s mega-IPL) the most popular and attractive franchise cricket tournament in the world.
Photo: Ashley Allen – CPL T20/CPL T20 via Getty Images
Fan participation has already grown tremendously. And continues to grow. Team support is now assuming cult-like dimensions, as Guyana Warriors (chicken curry) and Trinbago Knight Riders (curry chicken) in particular have taken their rivalry beyond the boundary and into the stands and streets.
West Indians in the diaspora now plan and book vacations around CPL time—more and more are following their team through the islands as the competition progresses.
Many fans based in the region island-hop to support their team, gladdening government hearts (do governments have hearts?) with the influx of visitors the tournament brings to their shores.
Photo: Ashley Allen – CPL T20/CPL T20 via Getty Images
During the early phases of this year’s tournament in Antigua and Saint Kitts/Nevis, there were many spaces visible in the stands, especially for mid-week fixtures. But later on, the crowds came out, even when the home franchise was not playing.
In Trinidad and in Guyana, there were many full houses. But the games were not without their hiccups.
In Port-of-Spain, everyone knows, parking spaces in and around the Queen’s Park Oval are limited. Patrons complained about having had their vehicles towed while they partied inside.
Photo: Ashley Allen – CPL T20/CPL T20 via Getty Images)
In Tarouba, traffic congestion and access and egress issues continue to plague games played at that venue.
In Providence in October, there was the spectacle of the lights going out in a crucial playoff game. The S-word surfaced. No surprise. But not me and the conspiracy, not me and the bacchanal. For me, age is just a number, whether it’s wearing a shoe, a slipper or a sabot!
But the CPL needs to ensure that justice also appears to be done!
Photo: Ashley Allen – CPL T20/CPL T20 via Getty Images
All in all, though, the sponsors can’t complain about the mileage they got from their continuing support of the tournament.
Its Caribbean nature gets pride of place in its official name but on the field it certainly retains a strong international flavour. Although all but two of the franchises are owned by Indian business interests, each team features top international players and coaches from around the world.
Maybe with time, more West Indian business interests will follow the example of the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons and the Guyana Amazon Warriors, both of which are owned by wealthy Guyanese businessmen.
Photo: Ashley Allen – CPL T20/CPL T20 via Getty Images
We can now hope for more good things from the CPL in the near future. A recent CWI announcement says that the way is now open for leading players such as Nicholas Pooran, Brandon King and Shai Hope to be selected, once available, on the Test squad without having to participate in the domestic red ball season.
Their CPL efforts will qualify them for red ball selection.
“CWI has committed to maintaining open and honest dialogue about the realities of the modern game,” CWI director of cricket Miles Bascombe told the media. “The players have responded in kind…”
Photo: Nicholas Bhajan/ Wired868
It is a development for which die-hard West Indies cricket fans the world over have long been yearning. Let us hope that before long it brings the kind of red ball results which the fans have long craved.
And that the scores of young and impressionable fans for whom the leading white ball players have become superheroes will find heroes too in the Test arena.
Thanks to the CPL.
Warren Thompson is a Tobagonian by birth, a life-long student of cricket by preference and an economist by profession. His formal training came at QRC, The UWI and the University of Wales but the assets/skills of which this father of three girls is proudest come from the School of Hard Knocks.
