England coach Peter Moores believes cricket will benefit enormously from the explosion of interest in Twenty20 cricket.
England head coach insists 'Test cricket is here to stay'
England coach Peter Moores believes cricket will benefit enormously from the explosion of interest in Twenty20 cricket, and insists the best players will make the winner-takes-all line up against the West Indies select XI later this year.
Moores' side will compete for huge cash sums after a series of £10 million challenge matches against Sir Allen Stanford's 'All-Star' side was announced at Lord's.
Texan billionaire Stanford has promised to invest more than £50 million over five years for the games which will be held in Antigua from November 1 this year.
Moores, speaking as the '20/20 for 20' series was launched at the home of cricket, told
Sky Sports News: "It is exciting for the game of cricket.
Foundation
"The fact it is getting people talking will spill out across the world.
"This is a different format with different pressures and brings a different audience. That is good for the game.
"But Test cricket is here to stay, it is the foundation of all we see."
England's players will be handed £500,000 if they win the first match on November 1 with a further £500,000 being paid to the other members of the squad and £500,000 for coaching staff.
England augmented their squad with some specialist - and not centrally-contracted - players for the Twenty20 World Cup last autumn and Moores insists the best players for the job will again be picked.
He added: "We need 11 players for the game and enough to cover for injuries, 14-15 or 15 would be the normal size squad.
"I don't think there will be pressure from centrally-contracted players. We will pick the best players whether they are centrally-contracted or not."
