The thoughts of Peter Moores can sometimes be difficult to translate from corporate coachspeak into plain language, but his considered reflection yesterday on the chastening Stanford-sponsored week in Antigua, which culminated in the harrowing tenwicket defeat on Saturday evening, could be summarised easily: muddled minds produced muddled cricket.

Although the England head coach was neither as strong nor as direct as Kevin Pietersen, the captain, the pair agreed that the result stemmed from failure to come to terms with the meaning of the most lucrative contest in the history of the game. Where England tormented themselves like philosophers locked in a great moral dilemma, the Stanford Superstars saw no embarrassment in seeing an opportunity to earn a very fast buck or a million as just that.

Moores put it succinctly. “You can never get off the focus of the game and we played against a very hungry, disciplined side,” he said. “The lads wanted to keep their integrity and not in any way let it be portrayed that they were just playing for the cash. They are desperate to play for the badge every time they play for England, but the whole issue of money was in people’s heads.

“We got absolutely nailed in an international game playing for England. That hurt, as it should do. People talked about whether this game was for England, was it for money, what was it about? In international, top-flight sport you cannot afford to have any grey area about what you are doing. You have to be very clear as a team and as individuals what you are doing and why you are doing it.”

According to Pietersen, the squad was distracted by what he described himself as “a lot of nonsense”, struggled to buy into the concept and allowed thoughts to drift from the cricket. He did not locate the fault: with the ECB for signing the deal with Allen Stanford, Sean Morris, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, for speaking out so close to the game, or the players themselves for allowing issues to nag.

The ECB has already promised an urgent review and Giles Clarke, the chairman, hinted strongly that the remaining four games in the $100 million contract will not be feature an England team. Clarke dismissed calls for his resignation, explaining that the England brand was essential in helping to interest the American market. In future, however, a hybrid squad is likely to be chosen along the lines of the Stanford Superstars. Players can then state the obvious unashamedly: that they will be playing purely for the money.

Established — in other words, the most marketable — galácticos such as Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff could be joined by specialist Twenty20 performers in Dimitri Mascarenhas and Graham Napier, along with youngsters such as Joe Denly and Dawid Malan. Difficulty then would be to reintegrate into an England dressing-room those regulars who are denied the one chance of the year to become dollar millionaires. Over to Moores.

Nobody, this time, could fail to have been moved as Andre Fletcher and Darren Sammy spoke so emotionally, thanking God for the result and their families for support. Nor, a little later, when Chris Gayle revealed that he will spend his winnings on treatment for his brother, who has a heart problem, and his father, who is also ill in Jamaica. It is not patronising or unpatriotic to feel satisfaction with the result.

The next commitment for England is a seven-match one-day international series against India beginning on November 14, with the squad due to arrive in Bombay this week. And, as for Pietersen, at least one wish has come true. He wanted the Stanford fixture to be done with so that his squad could focus on more orthodox business. It is over: he stands not a penny richer, but must be considerably wiser for the experience.

- Anil Kumble, the India captain, retired from the game with immediate effect after yesterday’s draw in the third Test with Australia. The 38-year-old leg spinner has been beset by injury recently and missed a sigificant part of the just concluded match because of a serious finger injury, having sat out the second Test win with a shoulder problem. “It would have been ideal if we had won this Test match, but the body was asking me questions every day.” Kumble played 132 Tests, taking 619 wickets, and was the second bowler to take all ten wickets in a Test innings.