St. John's, Antigua – 02 August 2007 –

Following a board meeting that took place last month, the Stanford 20/20 Board of Directors has announced the acceleration of the Stanford 20/20 Professional League programme with a deadline of 1 November 2007 set for 6 more professional teams to be established.

Nevis, St. Lucia, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, US Virgin Islands and Anguilla have been selected by the Stanford 20/20 Board to be a part of the first phase of the Stanford 20/20 Professional League which will eventually encompass the 21 countries participating in the regional Stanford 20/20 Tournament. Meetings between the countries' government officials and the Stanford 20/20 legends are currently taking place and the team selection camps are being organized by the local cricket boards.

As was done with the Antigua & Barbuda Stanford 20/20 Professional Team, the players on the teams from these six territories will be paid to play cricket fulltime. They will also be able to carry out West Indies, regional and national team duties as part of the programme where applicable.

At the time of the announcement of the Antigua & Barbuda Pro Team Stanford 20/20 creator and financier Sir Allen Stanford said that the purpose of the professional teams is to create more competitive play in the Stanford 20/20 Tournament and provide the West Indies with a pool of players that they can tap into when making selections for their National and West Indies Cricket Teams.

'These players are going to live, eat and breathe cricket,' said Sir Allen Stanford. 'They are going to be paid for it. Their job will be to play cricket and they will make a living doing so. The West Indies cannot help but benefit from the caliber of cricket that we are going to see come out of this team and the league when it all comes together. We are very excited about what this means for West Indies cricket!'

The early reports indicate that the professional team programme is coming together well and that the response has been positive. The Antigua & Barbuda Pro Team has been training since the first week of July and will play their first 20/20 match in Grenada against the Grenada National Team on 6 October. Under the leadership of Coach Eldine Baptiste, Manager Rolston Otto and trainer Evans 'Jawakie' Jones, the team has been undergoing intense training and will soon take part in professional and personal development training classes as part of the plan to create a well-rounded player and individual.