< >

Sarwan Looking Forward To 20/20 For $20m Match

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Ramnaresh Sarwan

© Stanford 20/20

Stanford Superstars batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan believes that his side is more than a match for England and if they do the basics right, they stand a good chance of winning the Stanford 20/20 For $20 million on Saturday.

Sarwan, who captained Guyana to the inaugural Stanford 20/20 title in 2006, told Cricket World that he was looking forward to the match, which will see the biggest sum of money on offer for one match that cricket has ever seen.

"So far it has been good," he said. "If there is any complaint then it is probably with the way the surface has been playing but generally the turnout has been good, the atmosphere has been great and I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

"I think the fact that Trinidad & Tobago only lost to England by one run gives us a lot of confidence going into the game, and it shows that we are on an equal footing with England. I think if we can do the basics right that would hold the key - Trinidad and Tobago did the basics pretty well and they almost won the game."

Team-mate Lennox Cush pinpointed England's Andrew Flintoff as a huge threat when he was interviewed earlier in the week, and when asked who he sees as the main threat from England, Sarwan agrees that the Lancashire all-rounder will be hard to stop.

"I think Freddy Flintoff with both bat and ball, but obviously we cant take anything away from Kevin Pieterson - we know what he is capable of doing; I think those two are going to be the players that we will have to keep our eyes on, but in Twenty20 anyone can stick their hands up and play a brilliant role whether it is with the bat or the ball."

In 2006, Sarwan played a key role in leading Guyana to glory in the Stanford 20/20 and he feels that experience will stand him in good stead.

"In the Caribbean, we haven’t played much Twenty20 apart from the Stanford," he commented. "Even the West Indies players haven’t played much Twenty20 so obviously myself, Chris [Gayle] and Shiv [Chanderpaul] are going to try to share the experience that we have had at international level and at Twenty20 level that we have played so far."


The Superstars are hoping for more scenes like this on Saturday night	© Brookes La Touche Photography

The last time a West Indian team clashed with England in a final of any competition was back in 2004 when the West Indies at The Brit Oval and when asked if victory on Saturday would compare to that triumph, Sarwan was brutally honest with his reply.

"Financially Stanford would be better to be honest," he said. "But I think that the ICC achievement was great because West Indies cricket hadn’t been doing that well so to win during the period that we did, where we were not favourites and played as the underdogs was a great achievement for us and I also won MVP (Most valuable player) in that tournament.

"But I think this will be a great achievement if we can beat England - we would be the first team in the history of any sport to win 20 million dollars so it is a great opportunity for us to be part of history."

Sarwan was talking to Cricket World's Aaron Kumar. The historic match takes place at the Stanford Cricket Ground in Coolidge, Antigua and you can listen to live, unofficial commentary by tuning in to Cricket World® Radio from 2130 GMT on the night.