The Texan billionaire who is bank-rolling a multimillion-dollar cricket tournament in Antigua said yesterday that he had not realised that the women with whom he was filmed cavorting on Sunday were related to the England players.

Allen Stanford told The Times last night that the women had not even told him they were English. He denied asking the pregnant wife of the England wicketkeeper to sit on his lap.

Pictures of him laughing and joking with the women as their husbands played against Middlesex in the opening match of the Stanford Super Series Twenty20 competition caused embarrassment to the England camp. They also led to Mr Stanford apologising to Matt Prior, the wicketkeeper, and Kevin Pietersen, the England captain.

It was one of a string of mishaps that have blighted the tournament. The England players, several of whom have been suffering from food poisoning, have found that the pitch is in poor condition and that the flood-lights make it difficult to see the ball. They are also unhappy that Mr Stanford – a Texan who has taken Antiguan citizenship – has been given access to the England dressing room.

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“I did not have a clue that these young ladies were anywhere near related to the players in terms of being a wife or girlfriend or whatever,” Mr Stanford said. “The cameraman just said, ‘There’s some nice-looking young ladies. Why don’t you get in the middle and say Go England with them?’ ” He asked the women where they came from and was told by one that she was from Los Angeles and by another that she was from New Zealand. “Well, I didn’t put any connection to England with that,” he said. In fact, the three girls were Emily Prior, Alice Hunt, the girlfriend of Alastair Cook, the England opening batsman, and an unidentified friend.

“I would never have gone in there if I’d have known that,” Mr Stanford said. “It was just a fun thing to do. An innocent thing. I wouldn’t have done anything morally wrong. It was over in a few minutes.”

He added that he had not asked Mrs Prior to sit on his lap. “The seat in the very middle was taken,” he said. “So the young lady said, ‘Why don’t you sit here?’ and then she popped down on my knee and the camera came by.”

Mr Stanford’s personal wealth dwarfs the GDP of the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, where he is the largest employer after the Government. His investments include the Bank of Antigua, Stanford International Bank and Stanford Trust Company. At the request of the Antiguan Government, he was knighted by the Queen in a ceremony conducted by the Earl of Wessex in 1996 as the islands celebrated the silver jubilee of independence.

Mr Stanford, who is separated from his wife and has six children, also denied rumours that he had fired his fiancée, Andrea Stoelker, president of the tournament’s board of directors. “I saw her three hours ago and if she’s fired she sure is working very hard,” he said. There has been speculation that Ms Stoelker lost her job as a result of a liaison with Chris Gayle, the captain of the Stanford Superstars side that will play England for a pot of $20 million (£12 million) on Saturday.

Gayle did not play in the Superstars match against Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday for family reasons. Mr Stanford said: “Those rumours are complete horse manure. We’ve been together seven years and we’re happier than ever.” The couple plan to marry next year. He said that he was looking forward to presenting Gayle with the winners’ cheque tomorrow. “He’s a fine young man and a great athlete.”