£10m Stanford match thrown into jeopardy

England's £10million cricket match in the Caribbean has been thrown into serious doubt by a High Court ruling.

The richest single game in the sport's history, with Kevin Pietersen and his team bidding to win £500,000 per man, could now be scrapped following today's verdict in London which found in favour of sponsors Digicel and against the West Indies Cricket Board.

It means the WICB can no longer make all their big names - including star batsmen like Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan - available to the Stanford Superstars for their scheduled Twenty20 game against England in Antigua on 1 November.

The row between telecommunications giant Digicel and the WICB concerns the company's claim that the Superstars will be a full West Indian team in all but name and, as such, the match should entitle them to marketing rights.

West Indian officials disputed that argument but the High Court found in Digicel's favour.

There must now be a danger that Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire behind the match, will pull the plug on what is supposed to be the first of five annual, winners-take-all contests.

A severely weakened West Indian outfit, comprising of second or third string players, would greatly reduce the chances of Sir Allen witnessing a nail-biting contest on his own ground in Antigua. There is still a chance, though, that furious negotiating over the next few days will save the game.