ECB: 'Stanford matches will go ahead'

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke is confident the first of the $20 million (£11.4million) Stanford winner-takes-all Twenty20 matches will go ahead in the West Indies.

The opening match between England and the Stanford Superstars side in Antigua on November 1 has been thrown into jeopardy by a dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and their sponsors Digicel, which is currently the subject of arbitration proceedings in London.

But Clarke said: "There is no reason to believe it won't take place. It's involving two other parties rather than ourselves and it doesn't involve Stanford.

"There are issues the WICB is addressing with Digicel. We're not party to the issue, it's a matter between the two of them.

"There's no doubt in my mind everybody is seeking to find a sensible solution to enable this very dramatic and extremely exciting game of cricket, which is much awaited in the Caribbean, to take place."

The ECB chairman also dismissed any concerns the £500,000 a man on offer to the winners will cause splits in the England camp between the players selected and those left out.

He added: "We get this issue with central contracts getting bigger and bigger, with who's in the team and the high performance squad.

"The debate on who's in the team is as old as cricket. As rewards rise generally, the rewards are rising for the highest quality players. There's nothing odd in that. Take a look at football.

"In many walks of life rewards have become more significant and what we're seeing is cricket's entire community getting used to fact the rewards have dramatically increased for current players."

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