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England's selection dilemma for Stanford contest
Moores vows to resist sentiment
Andrew Miller at Lord's
June 11, 2008
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Peter Moores is unlikely to reward Michael Vaughan with a call-up for the Stanford contest © Getty Images
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When Peter Moores took over from Duncan Fletcher as England head coach in May 2007, he might have assumed that his toughest task in the coming years would be to pick the side that will challenge for the Ashes in 13 months' time. Now, however, he has an entirely different dilemma on his hands. At Lord's on Wednesday it was announced that, on November 1, the inaugural "Stanford 20/20 for 20" will take place in Antigua, and it is Moores who will be handed the onerous duty of selecting the eleven lucky stars who will compete for a cool US$1 million each.
He can't have seen that coming when he signed on the ECB's dotted line. Moores's strengths as a coach are far removed from those that the autocratic Fletcher brought to the role - he's a facilitator, first and foremost, a man who's quite happy to delegate duties to his able deputies further down England's chain of command. Yet, such are the sums of money on offer for this extraordinary contest, the buck simply has to stop with him on this occasion. Too much discussion could prove divisive if there's no consensus to be found.
However, it's not a prospect that fazes Moores, not outwardly at least. "The fact that it's worth more money doesn't matter, you still use the same judgment to pick the side," he told reporters during the launch at Lord's. "There will be no messing around. You can never be sentimental when you're picking a team, because you pick the best team you think can win the game for England at any given time."
And yet there is already a potential embarrassment looming, because that best team will almost certainly not include the Test captain, Michael Vaughan. His shortcomings in limited-overs cricket have been well documented - he failed to reach three figures in 83 ODI innings, and he has not featured since standing down as one-day captain after England's elimination from the 2007 World Cup. And yet, after a decade of outstanding international service, Vaughan clearly feels entitled to a slice of the Stanford pie at the expense of, say, Luke Wright, who is the man in possession, but whose international experience currently totals five ODIs and seven Twenty20s.
Moores is determined not to be swayed by such notions, however. "As a professional sportsman you're brought up knowing that you're rewarded differently as you go through the game," he said. "We've got players in the England team who are earning more than others by the nature of their endorsements, so I don't see that this is any different. We will be selecting the best 11 cricketers to play in that game and if you're one of those cricketers, you will then have the chance to earn a special pay-day."
They've also got the chance to lose it too. According to the various banners that were hung around the ground during the announcement, the England rugby player, Jonny Wilkinson, once came out with this pithy quote: "I play with a fear of letting my team-mates down - that's what motivates me."
There won't be a single cricketer present on the park in Antigua in November who won't feel an affinity with that mindset. The winners will leave with a life-changing nest-egg, the losers - in the words of Anne Robinson - will leave with nothing. Woe is the cricketer who drops the catch that turns the match of a lifetime. "It will be a different sort of pressure for all the players," said Moores. "It is such an exciting time to be involved in the game."
At least England and West Indies - or the Stanford All-Stars, as they will be known in this "unofficial but authorised" contest - will play in the knowledge that there are four other opportunities to cash in, with annual US$20 million fixtures scheduled until 2012. It is a prospect that might just pacify one or two of the more vocal England players, not least Kevin Pietersen, after the disappointment of missing out on the cash bonanza of the Indian Premier League. With England's contracts coming up for renewal in September - two months before the Antigua contest - the prospect of Pietersen and his senior colleagues going freelance to maximise their earning potential might also have been nipped in the bud.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of Cricinfo
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