Stanford Trophy

This is interesting, I am all for cricket becoming more popular and global. However, I don't want it to go down the route of football and become all about money.

Somehow we need to try and strike a balance, unfortunately I don't think the Stanford Trophy does this.

It's the sort of thing that could ignite interest worldwide in the game - Something which is both good and bad for the sport. Though I'm all for getting more people to follow the game, you have to be careful as to the reasons why - If, as you suggest, it becomes all about money and stardom, then I think this could backfire.

At the end of the day, it's a lucrative idea and the stakes are massive - Would you seriously want to be under that kind of pressure? What if you dropped a catch off the last ball of the match and cost you and your team £500k each? It'll make for thrilling watching but whether it actually does anything for the sport is another question altogether.

As long as it's only a one-off then I think it could work. However, if this starts to become a regular thing, we'll soon be talking about £xm transfers and it'll become as corrupt and greedy as football, something which has successfully been avoided for years.