The ECB is understood to be holding a review into their five-year deal with Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire who is bankrolling the Stanford 20/20 for 20. The two parties agreed on an unprecedented US$100 million deal in the summer, spread over five years, but the inaugural competition this week in Antigua has attracted considerable criticism in England.
The low point was reached on Monday when Stanford was pictured with Matt Prior's wife on his knee and with his arms around two other girlfriends of members of the England team during a match earlier in the week. It provoked a strong reaction from parts of the media, and in addition, one England player reportedly said: "If that was my wife he'd put on his lap I would have wanted to punch him".
Additionally, the pitch - which was rolled for more than 40 hours prior to the tournament - has lacked pace and carry, restricting bowlers' confidence to pitch it up while hampering batsmen's strokeplay.
Stanford, who owns the ground where the matches are being held, also has access to the players' dressing rooms, which has helped cultivate an uneasy feeling among the teams. With Saturday's US$20 million match approaching on Saturday, even Kevin Pietersen is feeling the pinch. "The longer this week goes on and the more people make of it, the more you just want to get it over with really," he said. "You always want to win a fixture for England but what will be, will be. I'm not too fussed."
Pietersen's team-mate, Ian Bell, offered similar sentiments while expressing concern at the timing of the event. "In a way, this week probably has come a little bit at the wrong time before we go and play a really good team in India," he told the BBC. "Momentum is something we have been building over the last two months, and with the Ashes around the corner next year we want to build on that and stay on the path that we have been going on under KP.
"We need to put in some hard yards there when we get to India and hopefully this week is not going to distract anyone from doing that."
