Stanford still casting shadow

All of the four remaining Stanford Twenty20 matches in Antigua and three quadrangular tournaments in England - the first of which was scheduled for Lord's this May - have been cancelled after the ECB severed all ties with the Texan financier.

The decision followed the charges levelled at Stanford this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in America, which accuse Stanford of a US dollars 9.2billion fraud.

Each of the Stanford matches in the Caribbean was worth USD20million, while USD9million was on offer to the countries involved in each edition of the quadrangular tournament.

However, only £3million of Stanford's cash is thought to have found its way into ECB coffers since the two parties first reached agreement last June.

Each of the 18 counties received £50,000 last year as a result of the Stanford deal, and ECB chief executive David Collier was quick to assure them they would not suffer financially as a result of the debacle.

But that was not enough to satisfy Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson, who renewed his stinging criticism of ECB counterpart Giles Clarke.

"My criticism remains of Giles, that he was very much at the forefront of this deal," Davidson told BBC Radio Five Live.

"If anything, my criticism is widening. I'm beginning to read and understand that the board members who apparently unanimously approved this contract with Stanford, most of them had not read it or not read it in detail.

"They have a duty to protect our interests and, if it is true they didn't read it, then where was the risk assessment, which is normal corporate governance practice? What were those board members doing? I think they need to look at themselves."