Jonathan Agnew column

England look sombre after losing the $20m Stanford Super Series match

By Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent in Antigua

One thing this unusual Stanford Super Series week was always going to guarantee was that it would all end in tears for someone.

There were broken dreams and, in England's case, a public humiliation.

We will never know if such an aberration was caused by the pressure of the money, or simply that England's batsmen collectively had a bad night.

Either way, it proves that money alone can't guarantee quality sport.

Kevin Pietersen was candid in admitting that his players' focus was not on the cricket.

This was a surprising statement in that if playing for your country for a million dollars a man does not motivate you, then what on earth will?

But this will just be one element that will form part of the review the England and Wales Cricket Board will now conduct into its association with Sir Allen Stanford.

There will be pressure from the players and the media for the team to be branded differently, and certainly not as England.

606: DEBATE They descended on the WI with the usual condescending attitude and the English media made it sound as though the $1 million was already in the bank 80mph

Stanford won't like it, but that was a crucial difference between the two teams.

The Stanford Superstars were flying under a separate banner and were clearly a team brought together specifically for this event.

England were always uncomfortable about the image of the national team for this private, unofficial event and even spent 40 minutes discussing how they would celebrate publicly had they won the match.

There will also be pressure from the players to remove the winner-takes-all element.

Again, Stanford will oppose this vehemently because he needs to sell the England connection, and the winner-takes-all is the only thing that gives this unofficial game any special interest value.

Those decisions will certainly be an early test of the relationship between the ECB and Stanford, and an early indication of who wears the trousers.

The evening itself was fabulous, and only increased my anger at the truly appalling effort the ICC made of staging the World Cup here.

The Stanford Superstars celebrate their $20m win

Although the game itself was desperate, the atmosphere was truly Caribbean.

Let's hope that the Twenty20 World Championships which are held here in a couple of years' time will be allowed to reflect it, too.

So lots to ponder - but possibly the party with the most to learn is the West Indies Cricket Board.

I have never seen a West Indian team as fit, focused, motivated or well prepared as the Stanford team.

That is due to the investment made by the Stanford set up which allowed the team to train professionally for the past six weeks.

Now the players return to the board's care, and let's hope - for the sake of the Test series against England early next year - that the West Indies Cricket Board has now seen what its players can achieve, given the opportunity.