Stanford Flashes the Cash As English Cricket Enters New Era

England's cricketers will earn a total of £2.5m a man if they win each of the five annual Twenty20 matches against Sir Allen Stanford's West Indian All-Stars in Antigua, starting on November 1.

In an unprecedented package unveiled today at Lord's by the Texan billionaire, it was revealed that each member of the victorious starting XI in five months' time will pocket £500,000, more than the highest-paid centrally contracted player currently gets per year for playing in every Test, 50-over and Twenty20 international. A further £500,000 will be shared among the squad members of the winning side, with the same amount to be divided between the victorious team's back room staff. The losers will get nothing.

"It will be a different sort of pressure for all the players," said the England coach Peter Moores, who denied that discussions over how to split the potential winnings had caused tension in the dressing room. "If you earn the right to play in that team, you get paid your money. Anyone can get in to the side if they perform well enough."

A further £3.5m from each £10m showdown has been ring fenced for the English and West Indian cricket boards, and Stanford, who landed on the Nursery Ground at Lord's in a helicopter and is reported to be America's 239th-richest man, today reiterated his desire to "bring West Indies cricket back to the top" of the world game.

Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, denied pandering to those players who had expressed their unhappiness at missing out on the riches of the Indian Premier League, which took place for the first time in April and May. "I'm not seeing a great deal of worry in the dressing room about finances and we are not trying to appease them," he said. "It gives them a chance to perform under pressure and to make money beyond the dreams of some of their predecessors."

But there was little comfort for those concerned that the huge levels of investment in the newest form of the game will damage the future of Test cricket. "I find it boring, but then I'm not a purist," said Stanford. "Test cricket is the foundation but Twenty20 is the future and that's where you'll make your money."