by TONY COZIER

A "COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT", reportedly finalised after a trans-Atlantic telephone conversation between Sir Allen Stanford and Denis O'Brien, head of Irish mobile phone company Digicel, sponsors of West Indies cricket, has opened the way for the 20/20 for US$20 million match between the Stanford Superstars and England to go ahead.

It is scheduled for the Stanford Cricket Ground in Antigua on November 1 in Antigua.

The agreement is to go before the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) directors for ratification when they meet in St Lucia today.

A statement is expected after all the details have been finalised. But players of both teams were yesterday assured by Stanford officials that the Super Series of six matches is still on. These involve warm-ups and a match between regional Stanford 20/20 champions Trinidad and Tobago and England Twenty20 Cup champions Middlesex for a US$400 000 purse.

The Superstars, who have been practising and training under coach Eldine Baptiste and his assistant Roger Harper at the Stanford ground adjoining the V.C. Bird International Airport for the past three weeks, were updated on the situation by manager Lance Gibbs and other members of management yesterday morning.

The 17 players, selected from the two regional Stanford 20/20 tournaments, continued their preparations afterwards.

Tickets for the matches remained available through the Internet, with the sales office scheduled to open at the ground today.

According to British Press reports, England captain Kevin Pietersen had been given the assurance by Stanford that the match would go ahead when he appeared in London on Tuesday to launch the publicity drive for the match big match.

The tournament was thrown into doubt after the London Court of International Arbitration (LICA) upheld the objections of Digicel that the WICB had entered an agreement with Stanford that "wholly compromises the exclusive rights granted to Digicel as principal sponsors of West Indies cricket".

As it effectively rendered the agreement null and void, official recognition would be withdrawn from the match and it would be regarded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as an unauthorised, private event.

As such, any players participating would open themselves to the same ban applied to those in the Indian Cricket League that similarly lacks official recognition.

The winner-takes-all extravaganza, promoted as the richest match in the history of the game, was announced by Stanford himself on behalf his 20/20 board, the WICB and the England and Wales County Board (WICB) at Lord's on June 11.

It is planned over five years with a US$20 million price tag each time – US$1 million each for players on the winning team, US$1 million to be shared between the reserves, and US$1 million between the support staff.

The WICB and the ECB would each receive US$3.5 million annually.