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New Zealand Cricket are resigned to missing an opportunity to cash in on Texan billionaire Allen Stanford's riches, with a planned Twenty20 tournament in England now almost certainly scuttled by fraud allegations levelled at the American.
The 58-year-old benefactor of West Indian and latterly English cricket had planned to bankroll a four-team competition at Lord's in late May - a preamble to England hosting the International Cricket Cricket Council's Twenty20 World Cup in June.
New Zealand Cricket was poised to sign off on a participation agreement that would have netted the organisation and New Zealand's leading players lucrative sums.
However, the tournament now appears unlikely, with Stanford accused of a multi-billion dollar investment fraud by American investigators.
United States regulators accused Stanford yesterday of fraud in selling US$9.2 billion dollars ($18.3 billion) in securities by promising "improbable and unsubstantiated" returns.
New Zealand, England, Sri Lanka and the West Indian-assembled Stanford Superstars were to play in the competition. New Zealand were reportedly to play England on May 30 but Vaughan doubted the matches would now take place.
"We were very close to playing in it, it's very disappointing," said Vaughan, who was surprised to learn of the allegations against Stanford.
New Zealand had been involved in discussions with the tournament organisers for the past six weeks and, other than a financial windfall worth several hundred thousand dollars, the games would also have led into the Twenty20 World Cup.
NZC was to look for other opportunities for the team, though the core of the likely World Cup squad would be match hardened by participating in the Indian Premier League.
The IPL final is scheduled for May 24. The Twenty20 World Cup starts on June 5.
Meanwhile, former England captain Mike Atherton has slammed English cricket bosses' decision to go into business with Stanford.
"Their judgment must be questioned on a number of counts," Atherton said of England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke and chief executive David Collier. He said they failed to check out Stanford's business empire before signing a sponsorship deal.
"Because of the relationship with Stanford, English cricket turned down much more lucrative opportunities with India, South Africa and Australia ... it is clear that the ECB backed the wrong horse."
- NZPA, AFP
