England are confident their lucrative partnership with Sir Allen Stanford will continue despite reports he is poised to end his financial backing of West Indies cricket.

The ECB were concerned at reports the Texan billionaire had disbanded his Stanford Twenty20 Board, terminated the contracts of his legends and closed his cricket office in Antigua amid rumours he was dissatisfied with the return on his investment in the Caribbean.

They feared Stanford, who has poured millions of dollars into West Indies cricket and funded their domestic Twenty20 competition, could also withdraw from agreements to bankroll an annual $20million (over £13m) winner takes all match between his All Stars side and England and a proposed quadrangular Twenty20 tournament to be staged at Lord's this summer.

Stanford's organisation issued a statement last night attempting to ease fears claiming he still had the "desire to continue to work with the ECB and discussions are currently ongoing between Stanford 20/20 LLC and the ECB".

David Collier, the ECB's chief executive, spoke directly to Stanford yesterday and was reassured enough to e-mail chairman Giles Clarke, who is in Mohali ready for the second Test against India starting tomorrow, and revealed his confidence in the future of the five-year deal.

"Any issues that exist are clearly issues that exist in the Caribbean and we are not involved," Clarke said. "David Collier has spoken to him and he wanted to make it clear that he is committed to working with the ECB."

Stanford's dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board is believed to hinge on problems with Digicel, who are the main sponsors of the West Indies team, which almost caused November's Stanford Super Series match in Antigua to be cancelled.

The two parties came to a compromise to allow the match to take place, which the All Stars won by ten wickets, but the ECB do not intend to intervene now Stanford has reassured them he wishes to continue his partnership with them.

"He has not said anything to us about ceasing to carry on doing things for West Indies cricket," Clarke said. "His issue is with the West Indies Cricket Board over the Digicel matter.

"He has an issue with them, they are going to discuss and debate that and he's made it perfectly clear he wishes to carry on with his arrangements with us. We're not in a position to dictate to either him or the West Indies Cricket Board about how they wish to deal with each other."

Stanford is also expected to become a major backer of the proposed England Premier League Twenty20 tournament with his All Stars expected to be one of two overseas teams also included in the event. The quadrangular tournament has also been confirmed for May 28 to 30 next summer as a warm-up for the ICC World Twenty20 tournament due to take place next summer and although no opposition has yet been confirmed, West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are expected to complete the line-up.