Big-money match is under threat

LONDON // England's US$20m (Dh73m) Twenty20 match against Sir Allen Stamford's Caribbean select team is in doubt . The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) lost a court case yesterday with team sponsors Digical and have been told they cannot sanction the match, due to be played in Antigua on Nov 1. The telecommunications company Digicel took legal action at London's High Court, claiming they had branding rights because of their overall sponsorship with the WICB.

The WICB had claimed that the match was not an official West Indies game and therefore they could find individual sponsors for the one-off event. Yesterday's ruling also stated that no West Indians on central contracts could play in the game, meaning big names such as Chris Gayle, Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan would miss out. Digicel had been unhappy that Texan billionaire Stanford was only prepared to grant them minimal branding on the bowlers' run-ups and boundary boards. It felt it had a right to a larger slice of the publicity and marketing surrounding the match.

The WICB chief executive Dr Donald Peters said: "We understand the arbitrator has ruled against the WICB and at this point we are trying to evaluate what the terms of the ruling are before we make any statement." Stanford and Digicel are now expected to be involved in negotiations over the next few days in a bid to save the multi-million dollar match. * With agencies