Texan billionaire Stanford's Twenty20 bid hit by cash split

There is concern at the England and Wales Cricket Board that worries among England players about the terms of November's "Winner Takes All" match in Antigua could jeopardise Stanford's potentially massive investment in their planned Twenty20 projects.

The American wants to get involved with a quadrangular series in this country starting two summers from now, and is said to be prepared to pump $150million into its staging.

Test of character: Kevin Pietersen's disappointing form continues when dismissed by lbw for three runs against New Zealand before walking back to the pavilion (below) on Sunday

But final agreement is being held up by concerns within the England dressing room that the sums involved in the separate $20m Twenty20 match against his West Indies are potentially divisive.

Five players in the Test match against New Zealand are not involved in the Twenty20 set-up and could miss out on  proposed $1m bonuses that would go to players who secured victory against Stanford's West Indian side on November 1.

Among them would be Michael Vaughan, who some sources say has been among those senior figures expressing worry that such disparity in incomes could cause division in the camp as a whole.

Stanford is keen that his match in Antigua should have the drama of personal fortunes riding upon it. England's players, however, foresee potential morale problems is some of them were to miss out through selectorial whim, injury or loss of form.

Coach Peter Moores hinted at as much prior to this Test match, saying: "If it's fair people will be fine with it. If it's deemed to be unfair it will cause its own problems."

What the players would like to see is a more broad-based formula involving a more substantial appearance fee in the November to be spread among squad and staff, with slightly less riding on the outcome of the actual match.

However, there are those close to Stanford who believe he would be unhappy with that. After all, by its nature "Winner Takes All" is a concept that is absolute - if the prize money structure is watered down then it becomes not so different from any other Twenty20 match in the format's proliferating calendar.

Cricket is fast becoming like football in that it seems impossible to discuss it for more than 90 seconds without the subject coming back to money.

Divisions: The $20m Twenty20 could prove divisive among players who will benefit, such as Pietersen (right), and those like Vaughan, who won't

Unused to the vast sums now being bandied about through Twenty20, such as in the Indian Premier League, the game sometimes looks as confused as the hillbilly family who have suddenly struck oil on their land.

The personification of this is Kevin Pietersen, whose three runs yesterday before being dismissed lbw was his latest unspectacular effort since the end of last summer.

He abruptly crossed the floor when IPL salaries were revealed,  going from unofficial spokesman for cricket's potential burnout cases to the chief advocate of the right to spend supposed rest periods filling one's boots.

Pietersen has barely acknowledged his self-contradiction, and has not helped himself in the public's eyes by averaging just 30 in both Test and one-day cricket since the inception of the IPL in October.

Those paying £65 per ticket at a half-empty Lord's on Sunday might prefer it if he could channel energies more into scoring runs for his adopted country than assessing his value on cricket's new moneymarkets.

That said, the whole prospect is an understandable distraction to a point and, although Vaughan denied it is an issue, you can be sure that it will have been a major talking point among England players over the dinner table since they met up for this Test match.

Another potential financial bonanza unthinkable a year ago could be coming the way of New Zealand wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum.

Should his IPL team Calcutta Knight Riders reach the semi-finals of the competition next month a massive offer of $1m may come his way to return to India while his international team-mates play a warm-up game at Northampton before the third Test.

A Kiwi spokesman denied that any offer had yet been made, and that if it was it would be a matter for the Board back home.