Sponsor Row Intensifies to Pile Doubt on Stanford Twenty20

A sponsorship row that is threatening the Stanford Twenty20 series has intensified, increasing fears that the event may have to be canceled. Digicel, a telecoms company which is the official sponsor of the West Indies Cricket Board, believes it has branding rights for the match between a Stanford Super Stars XI and England on November 1, which is a winners-take-all $20m (£10.75m) game. The Stanford organizers believe Digicel's deal with the WICB, which has sanctioned the match, does not cover their event.

The matter has already gone before the high court in London, where Digicel won an injunction against the Stanford organizers, and it is due to return to court on October 3. "At this point there is no future meeting planned," a Stanford spokesman said. "We offered the last counter-offer and Digicel rejected it."

Digicel said: "Digicel, having had its own ... compromise solution flatly rejected by Stanford, sought (together with the WICB) to meet with Stanford representatives to further advance discussions in the matter notwithstanding Stanford's firm rejection of Digicel's compromise proposal."

Digicel requested that no telecoms company would be involved in the event, that the Stanford organizers pay all their legal costs and that the Stanford team wear West Indies kits with the Digicel branding in its current form and size. The final point is the key issue, the organizers having agreed to the first two.