The $20 million Twenty20 Stanford match between England and an all-star West Indies team could be in doubt after the Caribbean islands' board (WICB) lost a High Court case against sponsor Digicel, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
The WICB will now have to withdraw its sanction for the lucrative match in Antigua on Nov. 1, which includes a million dollars in prize money to each player on the winning team.
This could mean the game going ahead without any centrally contracted West Indies players, or being called off altogether.
Digicel had sponsorship rights for all West Indies cricket matches but were frozen out when Texan billionaire Allen Stanford set up his big-money series, which included a $20 million challenge match for each of the next five years.
Digicel demanded sponsorship and branding rights and a High Court arbitration hearing in London found in their favour and against the WICB.
Cricket website www.cricinfo.com reported that behind the scenes negotiations were believed to be taking place between all interested parties in a bid to save the game.
WICB chief executive Dr Donald Peters told the BBC: "We understand the arbitrator has ruled against us and at this point we are trying to evaluate what the terms of the ruling are before we make any statement."
