Allen Stanford could be forgiven straying into the world of hyperbole in the immediate aftermath of a crushing ten-wicket win for his Superstars. World domination in cricket may prove rather harder for West Indies than he seemed to imagine in his excited post-match prediction, yet the lessons are there for the players and administrators to heed.

After six weeks of intensive training to improve fitness as well as technique and skills, Stanford's team gained due reward for commitment and sacrifice in the build-up. Time will not always permit such a long camp before official Test and one-day series and life-changing reward will provide incentive only once a year, on what may now be known as Stanford's Day.

Players, though, from the experienced core of Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan to those with reputations yet to be made, such as Andre Fletcher and Suliemann Benn, can go from strength to strength if they remember the pride they felt and the joy that they gave to the 10,000 crowd after Gayle, with typical nonchalance, finished the match with a six. That must be motivation enough.

Where England fidgeted, the Superstars looked at ease for all but the first couple of overs each innings. Ian Bell and Matthew Prior gave England a misleadingly solid start with the bat, but to defend 99 meant that every small chance had to be taken in the field. Instead, Samit Patel and Kevin Pietersen missed relatively easy run-out attempts in the first eight balls of the reply.

Overelaborate footwork cost too many wickets and, as panic set in, England forgot that 20 overs can be a long time. The Superstars, meanwhile, bowled calmly throughout. Nothing better epitomised their intelligent approach more than the way that Kieron Pollard bowled Andrew Flintoff with a second slower ball after his first had been whacked straight for four. As for Gayle, he barely erred all night.

The captain would have been a popular choice as the man of the match. He deflated England's fightback in the field with successive sixes off Stephen Harmison's and continued to keep the crowd - not least Stanford himself - in a frenzy. Yet Darren Sammy was the correct selection. The Superstars won the game with their bowling and Sammy turned the screw when England thought they could loosen it.

Jerome Taylor had bowled Bell and Prior with the third and fifth balls of the fourth over, but Sammy's dismissals of Owais Shah to a hanging catch by Dave Mohammed, untroubled by the supposed paucity of the floodlights, and then Pietersen as he went too far across to the off side, turned a setback into a collapse. A format renowned for big hitting became a struggle to survive.

England
I R Bell b Taylor 7
M J Prior b Taylor 12
O A Shah c Mohammed b Sammy 4
*K P Pietersen b Sammy 7
A Flintoff b Pollard 8
P D Collingwood c Sarwan b Benn 10
S R Patel run out 22
L J Wright c Sammy b Pollard 1
G P Swann b Benn 3
S C J Broad not out 9
S J Harmison b Benn 6
Extras (lb 1, w 9) 10
Total (19.5 overs) 99

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-22, 3-29, 4-33, 5-51, 6-54, 7-59, 8-63, 9-92.

Bowling: Sammy 4-0-13-2; Taylor 4-0-25-2; Powell 4-0-18-0; Benn 3.5-0-16-3; Pollard 4-0-26-2.

Stanford Superstars
*C H Gayle not out 65
A D S Fletcher not out 32
Extras (lb 1, w 3) 4
Total (no wkt, 12.4 overs) 101

R R Sarwan, S Chanderpaul, S C Joseph, K A Pollard, D J G Sammy, S J Benn, D Mohammed, J E Taylor and D B L Powell did not bat.

Bowling: Harmison 3-0-30-0; Broad 3-0-24-0; Flintoff 3.4-0-25-0; Patel 1-0-9-0; Collingwood 1-0-4-0; Swann 1-0-8-0.

Umpires: R E Koertzen (South Africa) and S J A Taufel (Australia).