Graeme Swann has dreamt of buying a pink Ferrari and no doubt England’s other cricketers have thought how they would spend $1 million should they win the $20 million (about £10.8 million) Stanford Super Series encounter in Antigua on November 1, but the match is threatened with cancellation. Negotiations between Allen Stanford and Digicel, the main sponsor of West Indies cricket, have broken down and an injunction will be lifted once the London Court of Arbitration announces its findings next month.

At the heart of the matter is the status of this unique game. According to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), the match carries “authorised unofficial” status, meaning that it has been authorised by both boards but it is unofficial in the sense that records of the match will not count. This, then, begs the question: what is the status of the team whom England will face?

Digicel, a telecommunications company, has commercial rights over matches played by West Indies in the Caribbean. Because the match has been authorised by both boards and the team who will play England resemble a West Indies team, Digicel argues that it is a West Indies team and, by giving away commercial rights to Stanford in return for his cash, the WICB is in breach of contract. The WICB argues that Stanford’s Superstars have been independently selected and coached, and therefore do not constitute an official West Indies team.

Last week Digicel offered a three-point compromise: that its legal costs be discharged; that no other telecommunications company be involved as tournament sponsor (Stanford had lined up Cable & Wireless, Digicel’s main competitor in the region), and that the Stanford Superstars wear the official West Indies jersey with Digicel branding. Stanford agreed to the first two points, offered Digicel some branding (perimeter advertising boards, etc) for the first year of the tournament only and refused to compromise on the issue of the jerseys. Stanford’s organisation insist that they are not prepared to “gift Digicel valuable rights to which it is not entitled”.

The arbitration process between Digicel and the WICB does not include Stanford and will decide only whether the WICB was able to authorise the tournament, given the restrictions presented by its commercial relationship with Digicel. If arbitration finds in Digicel’s favour on October 4, Stanford will have to decide his next course of action with three weeks until the first match is scheduled to take place on October 25.

Darren Gough, the Yorkshire and former England fast bowler, has been forced into retirement one match earlier than planned, having failed to recover from his exertions bowling against Somerset in the LV County Championship match that finished last Saturday. Michael Vaughan will join Gough, 38, on the sidelines for Yorkshire’s final championship match, against Sussex, which starts in Hove tomorrow.

Vaughan is suffering from a side strain, but also, more worryingly, further discomfort in his troublesome right knee, which has been operated on four times, denying him a final opportunity to impress before England’s Test squad to tour India is named on Monday. In four innings for Yorkshire since resigning the England captaincy, he made only 43 runs.

“Michael’s knee flares up from time to time and it will probably be OK in a week,” Martyn Moxon, the Yorkshire director of cricket, said. Jonathan Bairstow, 18, son of David, the former Yorkshire wicketkeeper, is in the squad for the Sussex game and could make his first-team debut.