The Texan billionaire behind a planned $19.6 million Twenty20 competition in the Caribbean will join the England and Wales Cricket Board for a news conference at Lord's on Wednesday and is expected to outline details of the tournament. Allen Stanford, who wants to finance a winner-take-all series between England and an international All Star team, will join ECB chairman Giles Clarke and Test greats Ian Botham and Viv Richards at the home of cricket for what is widely anticipated to be the unveiling of the tournament. The ECB has been meeting with Stanford – who runs his own Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean – for more than a month.The advent of Twenty20 has revolutionized cricket, offering a result inside three hours and making it more attractive to broadcasters and to time-poor fans than the 50-over one-day format that came into vogue three decades ago or the more traditional five-day Test matches. The England Cricket Board last weekend unveiled plans for a Twenty20 Champions League – with a first prize of $5 million – featuring the top two clubs or provinces from each of the Australia, India, England and South Africa domestic competitions. Hussain a fan of T20 Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes the fact finalists in this season's Twenty20 Cup will qualify for the lucrative new Champions League will take the tournament to another level. The ex-Essex batsman compared the semifinals of the county competition, which starts on Wednesday, to the Championship playoff final in football which sees a team promoted to the money-spinning English Premier League. “Sport is better when there is something big hanging on the outcome. The higher the stakes, the more intense the pressure and the more the character of the players is revealed,” Hussain wrote in his column for Britain's Daily Mail. “The winners of the cup, which starts tomorrow, get something like 80,000 dollars. But the two counties who reach the final will have the chance to earn $5 million from the Champions League, so can you imagine the atmosphere if a team need four from the last ball in one of those semifinals? “What we will see is the cricketing equivalent of the football playoff final, with the winners going to the Premier League.” Hussain said while he could not see the likes of Kevin Pietersen pulling out of Tests, Twenty20 might alter England players' contractual arrangements. “I can see people turning down (England) central contracts and, in effect, going freelance to play where the best money is on offer at any one time,” Hussain explained. “Pietersen knows England would always want him to play for them so, in theory, he could make himself available on a match-by-match basis.” Hussain added: “There are concerns about the first-class game but I remain convinced that Test cricket will continue to prosper, at least in this country, and be treated as the pinnacle.”
