The ECB is set to sign an agreement to create two international Twenty20 competitions, backed by Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire, that will make England’s cricketers millionaires.

The Times understands that Stanford, the ECB and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) are in a position to put pen to paper today on a memorandum of understanding that will pave the way for the five-match, $100 million (about £50 million) series against a West Indies all-star team and create a four-team international tournament, to be held at Lord’s.

Talks between the three parties, which have lasted more than 100 hours, initially focused on a five-match series between England and a West Indies Stanford XI that would rotate for five years between Antigua and Lord’s, with the winning team taking $20 million for each match. Now, however, the so-called “Twenty20 for 20” series will be held solely at Stanford’s ground in Antigua. In return, at the instigation of the ECB, the American has committed himself to financing five annual knockout tournaments, to be staged at the home of cricket from September 2009.

The Twenty20 tournaments will mean England and a West Indies all-star XI, as well as two international teams invited by the ECB, contesting a $10 million bounty. The teams will be drawn at random into two semi-finals, with the winners entering a play-off for the prize. All television revenue will go to the ECB.

“I’m not going to break even at Lord’s,” Stanford told The Times last night. “I look at that as part of the overall package, that it will give more exposure to and create more excitement about the whole thing.”

Stanford hopes to fly home tomorrow after a week of meetings that have at times stretched to ten hours. “Now that’s the package deal and our goal is that I fly out of here on Saturday after signing a memorandum of understanding,” he said.

The $20 million matches to be held in Antigua will result in players from the winning team taking home at least $1 million each. If Stanford’s team win, $15 million will go to the West Indies team, with $5 million going to the WICB. He has consistently stated that his aim is to improve West Indian cricket and he has secured an agreement from the ECB that whenever England take the prize, an unspecified sum will funnel back to the West Indies. The three teams will also agree to a framework to export the Cricket Foundation’s Chance to shine programme, which promotes the sport in state schools, to the islands.

The development of the two series could help to assuage the demands of England’s top cricketers to have the chance to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where they can make a season’s wages in six weeks. An England player who featured in a successful team in all Stanford’s fixtures over the five-year period could earn upwards of £3 million. Stanford said: “Whatever happens in Antigua, we all win and if we generate enough television revenue, that will go back into West Indian cricket, too.”

On Wednesday, The Times disclosed that Stanford had discussed with the ECB the prospect of financing an English version of the IPL, which he believes would benefit from better management and organisation than the Indian tournament. “I think they’re going to reach out to private investors and float something,” Stanford said. He added last night that discussions had “stepped up a notch” and that he hopes to return to the UK for further talks.

The ECB refused to comment last night. This week the board said in a statement that talks had been “very productive” and had “further developed the constructive and positive discussions”.

Moving the stumps

Initial talks focused on five annual Twenty20 matches between England and a West Indies XI, worth $20 million a game, to rotate between Antigua and Lord’s.

The proposals now specify that those games should be held in Antigua alone. Lord’s is set to host five annual tournaments featuring those two teams along with two other international sides, with the winner taking $10 million each year.

The annual conference of the ICC, held at Lord’s since the first meeting in 1909, is to leave the ground. MCC confirmed that the conference will move to Dubai in June. It was claimed last night that the move was prompted by uncertainty over whether Peter Chingoka, the president of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, would be allowed into Britain. An MCC spokesman said: “With the ICC having moved its headquarters to Dubai in 2005, this is not a big surprise.”

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