Stanford saga is the tip of the iceberg

Basing deals on a 'capacity to pay' implies a board prepared to sell the national side at any expense, writes Gideon Haigh in the Guardian.

Managing cricket is about preserving value as well as leveraging price. At a time when the ECB is earnestly seeking a replacement for Vodafone, it would be disastrous to give the impression that they will whore their cricket team to anyone with "capacity to pay" – and who would wish to be that sponsor? English cricket has been damaged by association with Stanford; it is now damaged by association with a chairman and chief executive who have such a narrow and technocratic understanding of their duties.