LONDON // The Texan billionaire Allen Stanford is to give fresh details of his commitment to cricket in January following reports he was pulling the plug on his multi-million dollars investment. Stanford was reported to have pulled out of the five-year deal after losing US$40million (Dh146m) on his winner-takes-all match in the first year. Stanford was not happy with the West Indies board after there were problems with Digicel, the official team sponsor, ahead of the start of the series.
Stanford axed his ambassadorial board of legends for the Super Series, including former West Indies captain Viv Richards, on Tuesday - something which his spokeswoman confirmed. Stanford is expected to bankroll the England Premier League Twenty20 tournament from 2010 as well as set up an annual four-team event at Lord's. A statement on behalf of Stanford said: "Contrary to some recent negative press speculation, Sir Allen reaffirmed his desire to continue to work with the England and Wales Cricket Board.
"And it is his intention to announce the programme for 2009 and beyond by the end of January." * Agencies
