Joseph (right) was on form with the bat for Stanford Superstars

Stanford Superstars warmed up for next weekend's $20m showdown with England by beating Trinidad & Tobago in Antigua.

They won by 22 runs despite captain Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul missing the match.

Acting skipper Sylvester Joseph hit an unbeaten 45 off 31 balls to guide the Superstars to a total of 146-5.

Fast bowler Jerome Taylor and left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn then took two wickets each as Trinidad and Tobago were restricted to 124-8 in reply.

The absence of their two star batsmen was a worry for the Superstars - Gayle remaining at home because of personal problems and Chanderpaul suffering from a stiff neck.

606: DEBATE The poor catching of the Stanford Superstars certainly doesn't bode well for their ultra-pressurised, $20 million contest with England next week alexrickets99

But Joseph insisted they would "definitely" be available for next Saturday's showpiece encounter with England which will see all 11 members of the winning side become instant dollar millionaires.

He was content with his side's performance, adding: "The pitch wasn't the best and 140-150 was a challenging total that we knew we could defend."

Trinidad & Tobago, the reigning Stanford 20/20 champions, gave debuts to four players despite the need to find form before their $400,000 challenge match against English county side Middlesex on Monday.

"The squad against Middlesex will definitely be a bit different - we just needed to see some players in different roles. It was important to give them a chance.

"After 15 overs we were ahead, so there were just a couple of areas to address and we might have developed some good momentum for the Middlesex game," said T&T captain Daren Ganga.

They lost opener Lendl Simmons for a first-ball duck, caught behind off Taylor, but Justin Guillen made 31 and all-rounder Navin Stewart, who earlier took 2-33 during the Superstars innings, hit two sixes into the crowd to keep his side in the hunt.

But after being dropped at deep mid-wicket off wrist spinner Dave Mohammed, Stewart was caught at long-on from the next delivery and when Guillen departed at the start of the following over, Trinidad & Tobago were left with too much to do.

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