It is not only the England players who have been suffering from queasy stomachs these past few days. The overwhelmingly negative coverage of the Stanford Super Series has forced the ECB to think seriously about its relationship with Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire. Barely one year into a five-year deal that includes not just the Stanford Super Series but a quadrangular tournament in England and, potentially, a Stanford team in the English Premier League as well, the ECB is having second thoughts.

Briefings were given yesterday by officials from the governing body indicating how uneasy they have become at the sight of the England team being used as a prop for a rich man's ego. They insisted that the agreement between the parties concentrated on the financial help that was going to be given to the West Indies Cricket Board and the introduction of a scheme to reinvigorate cricket in West Indian schools. If neither of these things comes to pass quickly, the board will move to distance itself from the deal.

Should that happen, it will come as a considerable embarrassment to the ECB, which could barely conceal its delight when the arrangement with Stanford was announced in June. With developments this week suggesting that the contract is more about Stanford and his brand than any altruistic concerns about West Indies cricket, it is clear that the ECB has been, at best, naive and at worst outmanoeuvred again.

At one level, the Stanford deal was supposed to shore up West Indian support against the increasingly hegemonic Board of Control for Cricket in India. With Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka now in India's pocket because of the parlous state of their finances, England is looking dangerously isolated within the cricket community. Every time Lalit Modi, the commissioner of the Indian Premier League, issues a statement it appears he aims to isolate England farther and have some sport at the ECB's expense.

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While the ECB continues to examine its conscience and fret about the fallout from the Stanford Super Series, the England players were meeting a representative of the Professional Cricketers' Association last night to air their concerns. The management, though, has got more practical things on its minds. Such as whether it will be able to put 11 fit players on to the park against the Stanford Superstars come Saturday.

For their final warm-up match against Trinidad & Tobago on Tuesday, the team were down to the bare bones, with James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Luke Wright and Stuart Broad suffering from the stomach bug that has spread since Stephen Harmison was laid low at the beginning of the week. All had pretty much recovered by yesterday, although Andrew Flintoff and Samit Patel were its latest victims.

Kevin Pietersen does not expect anyone to be unavailable for the final fixture on Saturday - and you would have to be pretty ill to run up the white flag for this one - but the captain gave short shrift to any notion that the selection procedure would be different to any other game. “They [the players] will be honest,” he said. “I'm not going to take any players on to the park who are not fit to play for England. It's like any other match.”

No stomach for the fight

Sometimes a dicky tummy can lead to a sporting upset

In 1995, New Zealand were strong favourites to win the rugby union World Cup. They averaged 63 points a game in getting to the final, but succumbed 15-12 to South Africa, the host nation. Several of the team had severe sickness, although no evidence was found for the claim that a waitress called Suzie had poisoned them.

Henry Blofeld was a good schoolboy cricketer, but the commentator almost made his Test debut while reporting on England's tour to India in 1964. England were so afflicted by illness that Blofeld was put on standby before, on the first morning of the second Test in Bombay, Micky Stewart declared himself fit. He left the field at lunch and played no further part. England used India's twelfth man as a substitute fielder.

Ten Tottenham Hotspur players fell ill on the eve of their final match of the 2005-06 season, when a win against West Ham United was needed to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League. They lost 2-1. A dodgy lasagne was blamed.

Peter Bonetti, of Chelsea, was a late replacement as goalkeeper for England's World Cup quarter-final in 1970 in Mexico when Gordon Banks was hit by food poisoning. England lost 3-2 to West Germany, with Bonetti conceding a soft goal.

Words by Patrick Kidd