Middlesex County Cricket Club have announced the launch of a spectacular competition at Lord’s which allows spectators at each of the five home Friends Provident t20 Middlesex Panthers matches in June the opportunity to win one million Australian dollars – more than £600,000 in cash!
To celebrate the arrival of Middlesex’s two Australian overseas stars, Adam Gilchrist and David Warner, for this year’s Friends Provident t20 competition, Middlesex are running this unique competition during the half time interval at each of the Panthers matches at Lord’s – the Ignis million dollar challenge.
Middlesex and England’s ICC World t20 winner Eoin Morgan, fresh back from his tournament win in the Caribbean, was at Lord’s today, along with Middlesex MD of Cricket Angus Fraser and Middlesex Captain Shaun Udal, to officially launch the competition and have a go at the Ignis Million Dollar Challenge themselves.
Spectators at Panther FP t20 matches will be encouraged to send an SMS text message to a number which will be promoted at each of the games, in the t20 Event Guide and on the big screens at Lord’s, inviting them to have a crack at winning the million. A percentage of the proceeds gained from all of the SMS messages will be donated to Middlesex’s long term charity partner, Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
During the first half of the game, three lucky spectators who have texted in, will be picked at random from all entries and will be invited out onto the hallowed Lord’s outfield during the interval to have their once-in-a-lifetime chance in front of the famous Lord’s Pavilion!
The competition is simple.
Each entrant gets to face two deliveries from a bowling machine, at a very generous and more than hittable pace of just 55mph. They are required to hit the two balls towards a target, sited 45 yards away – with the nearest from each of the three competitors winning the chance to face the golden ball and hit for the million.
The ‘million dollar golden ball’ is the one that really counts! The nearest competitor then retakes their guard and faces the million dollar delivery - same speed, same line and same length - no harder than that. Put simply – if they hit the ball through the target with the golden ball; they win a share of one million Australian dollars.
The competition is being run at each of the five Lord’s matches, with a total of one million dollars up for grabs. If more than one competitor hits the target, then the million dollars will be divided equally between all winners.
Tickets for all of the Middlesex T20 matches are now on sale from www.lords.org
