I was always uneasy with Stanford deal - Pietersen

The tremors of the Stanford scandal continue to be felt with Kevin Pietersen claiming that he had lost money on nullified contracts with the Antigua-based billionaire. It has been reported that Pietersen had signed a productive two-year deal to be an "ambassador" for Stanford.

Last year, as the Stanford series neared green light, Pietersen said he was excited by the money on offer in Twenty20 cricket, and likened it to winning the lottery. Speaking to the News of the World, Pietersen has now said he was always uneasy with the ECB's deal with Stanford that made it seem as if "the England team had been sold."

"I was an ambassador for Stanford - a player face - but that contract has gone," said Pietersen. "I was very uncomfortable with the whole Stanford thing."

Pietersen's deal with Stanford came with an option to promote the Stanford Twenty20 matches in Antigua and the Stanford-sponsored international quadrangular Twenty20 events in England for another three years.

"It was not that I was captain at the time, it was the uncomfortable situation of everybody thinking the England team had been sold. With the financial state of the world, people were talking about money instead of cricket," said Pietersen, who has been one of England's most vocal advocates of the team's participation in the Twenty20 game.

"Those kinds of things just didn't seem right to me, so it's not a bad thing we are not going to have that tournament anymore."

The ECB terminated all contracts with Stanford this week.