ECB confirms Stanford talks on track

The England board has confirmed that talks with Allen Stanford over the winner-takes-all Twenty20 competition are progressing well.

It is believed that the deal involves five Twenty20 matches between England and a Stanford All-Star side in Antigua, with the winners pocketing US$20 million, an annual international quadrangular tournament in England.

"That's highly likely to still proceed," David Collier, the ECB chairman, said. "Certainly all the talks are very much on track and we hope to make an announcement in the future." Details of the agreement are due to be announced later this week.