Teams excited about international flavour

ANTIGUA // The Trinidad and Tobago captain Daren Ganga can sense the excitement building up ahead of the inaugural Stanford Super Series as his side takes on the Stanford Superstars in the lucrative Twenty20 series today. The highlight of the six-game series is the £10million (Dh58m) encounter between the Superstars and England on Nov 1.

Ganga said: "We are very excited. I think Trinidad and Tobago have prepared well. We realise that it's quality opposition we will be coming up against. "It is not against regional teams anymore. It's virtually two international teams in the West Indies [Stanford] Superstars and England. So it is going to be very competitive. I think it is a good benchmark to know where our cricket is at in terms of us being a regional team with young players taking on international players."

The England captain Kevin Pietersen also struck a harsh warning on the seriousness of the games at a time of global economic strife. He said: "I have friends who are really struggling, people who have lost their jobs "There is no way in the world I want people to carry on like clowns, win or lose, because there are a lot more things happening in the world that we want to respect." England play Middlesex in their warmup game today.

* PA Sport