Sir Allen Stanford and West Indies cricket – an inside story
First published in the April issue of SPIN magazine. Subscribe today and get a free copy of the Cricketers’ Who’s Who worth £18.99 (UK readers only)
A key member of the coaching team that helped the Stanford Superstars beat England in last November’s $20m challenge match has been speaking to SPIN about Sir Allen Stanford’s ill-fated involvement with West Indies cricket.
Julien Fountain, the side’s English fielding coach, believes the Stanford project had great benefits for West Indies cricket – and that the intensive training camp ahead of the 2020 for 20 challenge has had a lasting impact on the West Indies side, which went on to beat England in the recent Test series.
“The players realised what they are capable of if they do the right thing. They gained an awful lot from that environment and I think they’ve held on to some of the feelings. It was a very positive experience.
“The West Indies had had a pretty poor run of form leading up to the series, where we’d always come out second best. I think that everybody realised that this was an opportunity that we could really put West Indian cricket on the map and say, ‘We’re not quite as bad as you think we are’.”
The Stanford side won by ten wickets, having bowled out England for 99. “We did get the impression that the whole week – the whole competition – meant a bit more to us. We’d been through so much preparation, that I think everybody in our squad really realised that ‘Now is the time’.
“I think it showed that West Indies cricket can be successful, given the right environment, back-up and organisation.
“Afterwards, everybody was just stoked that we won the $20m game and that we didn’t just beat England, we absolutely crushed them. Winning the money didn’t register for a little while. It was just that we’d achieved what we wanted to achieve.”
The ECB’s dealings with Stanford came to an end in February after the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused the billionaire financier of “a massive fraud.”
Stanford sponsored inter-island Twenty20 tournaments in the Caribbean in 2006 and 2008 and, briefly, funded four professional island teams. His deal with the ECB was to have seen the annual $1m-a-man challenge match with England, plus an early season T20 quadrangular in England and a Stanford team in the new-look Twenty20 Cup. Stanford, who denies any wrongdoing, has now had his assets seized by the US authorities, as he stands accused of an $8bn fraud.
Fountain, now working with the Ireland team in their World Cup qualifying campaign in South Africa, could not confirm how
many of the players had re-invested their $1m prize money with Stanford organisation – but thinks that at least one player had. While some players and coaches were written cheques, others had accounts opened for them in the Stanford International Bank, with the money deposited there.
“Sir Allen made a big thing about his financial advisers talking to us to ensure that the money was invested wisely,” says Fountain. “They were very keen for us to keep the money in house. The advice was very plausible. And you’re sat there in this luxurious bank: huge, beautiful tables, big flat screen TVs, big glass, chrome and leather. They said, ‘Listen, the market is really volatile and you don’t really want to invest in stocks and shares now. If you want a simple, safe thing, just open these accounts, we’ll pay you the interest and it’s as safe as houses’. They were offering rates of nearly eight per cent interest in these ‘safe’ accounts, even though most other banks were offering three per cent.
“One of the younger guys said, ‘I live with my mum. I’ve got no need to touch it, I’m just going to live off the interest, thanks very much’. Interest on a million dollars would have paid him about $80-90k a year. A huge annual wage for doing nothing, so he had no reason to touch it.”
Did the players have any inkling that there was anything untoward about the Stanford organisation? “Not at all. We found out when everybody else found out.” says Fountain. “It was such a positive event, so it’s such a shame it has gone horribly wrong. If all of his rhetoric had come to fruition, it would have provided so many great opportunities for young West Indian cricketers – and been such a shot in the arm for West Indies cricket.”
The Superstars squad featured several young semi-pro players who had never played for West Indies. The Stanford project gave players from smaller islands a shop window to progress their career and it’s the affect of the scandal on this aspect that Fountain finds most disappointing.
“Some of the new and young Stanford players tried to get county contracts this winter but got absolutely no feedback. You can understand that: one game doesn’t make a career. But they played out of their socks; hopefully that would have kicked on with more games for Stanford. It may have taken 12 months or 18 months but all the kids who were no-names would have risen to the top and got opportunities. Sadly now, you’re back to the old days which is unless you get selected for the West Indies, nobody wants to know you.”
First published in the April issue of SPIN magazine. Subscribe todayand get a free copy of the Cricketers’ Who’s Who worth £18.99 (UK readers only)
