Agreement is reached in Stanford game dispute

THE $20 million winner-takes-all Stanford Twenty20 match between a West Indies XI and England will go ahead in Antigua as planned, tournament organisers confirmed last night.

Signalling an end to the dispute between match organisers Stanford and telecommunications company Digicel, who are the main sponsors of West Indies cricket, a statement read: "

An agreement between Stanford 20/20 and Digicel has now been reached which assures the future of the Stanford Super Series and the Stanford 20/20 for 20."

The West Indies Cricket Board scheduled a meeting in St Lucia for yesterday afternoon where it was expected the governing body's directors would ratify an agreement to allow the winner-takes-all $20 million (£11.6m) match to go ahead. And that meeting proved fruitful as the dispute which had put the series in jeopardy was finally resolved.

Sir Allen Stanford said: "I am pleased with both parties' solution oriented approach and most importantly that this matter has been finally resolved.

"We look forward to welcoming fans from around the world to the Stanford Cricket Ground to enjoy a fantastic week of cricket."

Reports earlier yesterday suggested a "commercial agreement" had been reached after a trans-Atlantic telephone conversation between Sir Allen Stanford and Digicel boss Denis O'Brien. An agreement was later confirmed and the WICB have been able to give the game their sanction. Digicel also revealed the agreement in a statement, which read: "Digicel is delighted to confirm that negotiations have been successful and that arrangements have been put in place to allow for the Series to continue for at least the next three years.

"As such, the match scheduled between the West Indies and England on 1 November will now proceed.

"Digicel has at all times supported the Stanford initiative and from the outset sought a negotiated compromise with the relevant parties.

"Following the ruling made by the Arbitrator that the WICB had breached its Sponsorship Agreement with Digicel, Digicel immediately commenced negotiations with Stanford Cricket."

The WICB were forced to revoke their sanctioning of the game on Tuesday after London's High Court upheld Digicel's claim that their deal with Stanford has compromised their sponsorship with the governing body.

That ruling had forced Stanford, who had wanted to find their own sponsors for the game, to the negotiation table after they had previously expressed their belief that the game was not an official West Indies match and therefore that Digicel had no sponsorship rights.