$100 million for HOW MANY matches???

Is this the beginning of the end... ?

The anouncement was made Wednesday - (Sir) Allen Standford is stumping up 100 million US dollars to five matches between an England side and a 'Stanford XI' from the Caribbean (sorry, West Indies) over a five-year period (if I got that right). 

The BBC's report and a vid of the press conference is here

An alternate take on this jazz is here...

I am very concerned that the game will lose its soul (if it hasn't already), and that all that money will destroy the pursuit (which it most certainly will do, IMO). The 'winner take all' mentality is surely anathema to cricket. 

I recognise that we now live in the twenty-first century. Most people (myself included) do not have the time to continually watch Test Match cricket. 

But if the sport were more widely available on the TV (I mean terrestrial /free-to-air TV), perhaps cricket would not be so dependent upon Sir Allen's largesse, or any other billionaire's passing fancy.

Or maybe (just maybe) I am being naive. Again. Crazy to think that this point in cricket's history may be the beginning of a thousand (or 100 million) tears shed for the game that I love so much - and I sense the spirit of that game become more elusive by the hour...

Am I the only one feeling queasy about all this?