KEY POINTS:
England's $US20m ($32.05 million) cricket match was in disarray last night after a High Court ruling that the West Indies Cricket Board was wrong to sanction it.
The so-called Twenty20 for Twenty game - guaranteeing the most lucrative prize in the history of team sport, with $US1m to each player on the winning side - is due to be played in Antigua on November 1 between England and a Stanford Superstars XI, effectively the West Indies team.
But plans for the match have been disturbed by a dispute between the Caribbean authorities and their main sponsor, the telecommunications company, Digicel.
The company was decidedly miffed that the all-star game, whose only purpose is money, was going ahead under the banner of the Texan banking billionaire Sir Allen Stanford.
Their argument, upheld in a ruling by Mr Justice Steel, was that as it was the sponsor of the team it should be involved in such a match and that the West Indies board should not have sanctioned it.
The outcome of the arbitration hearing in the Commercial Division, while expected given the terms of Digicel's agreement, was still a grave embarrassment for the England and Wales Cricket Board.
In agreeing to the game ECB stood accused of putting the England team up for hire. The match, though authorised at the time, did not have even the kudos of being an official Twenty20 international.
The ECB was conspicuous last night only by its official silence.
"We believe the match will take place as originally agreed and are planning accordingly," was as far as it went.
Privately, however, there must have been the odd squirm. Fierce behind-the-scenes negotiations were taking place last night between the WICB and Digicel, and while the Stanford organisation was not officially part of the proceedings it is bound to be involved.
Despite the ruling there seemed to be no suggestion among any of the parties that the match would not take place as initially formulated: $US20m in the pot with the boards splitting $US7m between them and the rest between the players and backroom staff.
The proceedings have been suffused with an air of irredeemable tackiness from the outset when Sir Allen Stanford arrived at Lord's by helicopter to be greeted by an ECB welcoming party which could hardly have been more obsequious had either the Queen or the Pope, or indeed both, arrived.
The announcement of the so-called Twenty20 for Twenty culminated with the unveiling of $US20m in hard cash, in case anybody wondered what it looked like.
But Digicel were unhappy from the start. The company has a five year sponsorship deal with the cash-strapped WICB worth $US20m and immediately saw the match as riding roughshod over its branding agreements, with the match certain to attract huge publicity simply because of the money at stake.
It is equally true that Sir Allen has been a benefactor of cricket in the Caribbean and the WICB, regularly in a state of confusion in the past five years, appeared to want its cake and eat it.
With Digicel pressing, Stanford's group eventually agreed to several concessions including ground and pitch advertising. But it stopped short of shirt branding.
Digicel decided to press ahead with the arbitration. By this time, some observers were viewing it as a stand-off between two rich men with big egos: on one side Dennis O'Brien, the head of Digicel, and on the other, though out of court, Sir Allen. The hearing was originally set down for last Friday and like all arbitration hearings was to be held in private.
It is likely to cost the West Indian board dear since it will have to foot the legal costs and has looked hapless throughout recent weeks, unable to satisfy either of its benefactors.
Dr Donald Peters, the WICB's chief executive, said: "We haven't had a chance to evaluate yet but we understand the arbitration is going against us."
England hardly smell of roses. Although they have, with some credence, made much of their desire to play the match for the good of the West Indies, who stood to earn $US3.5m from it, there is no doubt that they also did it as a sop to their players.
England's leading cricketers have been denied the right to take part in the new cash-crazy Indian Premier League and when Stanford came calling it was seen as a way of giving them the money they craved - as long as they won.
England have already been severely embarrassed by not being an official partner in the new Twenty20 Champions League for domestic winners and now face the prospect of being excluded from an international triangular tournament in which India, Australia and South Africa are said to be taking part.
If they lost the Antigua match as well, it would be a humiliation too far.
- INDEPENDENT
