England batsman Kevin Pietersen has labelled billionaire financier Sir Allen Stanford "a sleazebag".
Batsman says he was "uncomfortable" with deal
Kevin Pietersen has labelled Sir Allen Stanford "a sleazebag", the England batsman also saying the end of the team's lucrative partnership with the American billionaire is "not a bad thing".
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Friday that it was severing all ties with Stanford after he was charged with fraud earlier in the week.
Stanford has been accused by the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of masterminding a fraud totalling $9.2billion.
England players will lose out financially after the collapse of the lucrative Twenty20 deal, but Pietersen is not unhappy about the end of the relationship.
"Stanford was a sleazebag. I was very uncomfortable with the whole Stanford thing," he told the
News of the World.
Pietersen, who was England's captain at the time, had a deal with the financier to promote the infamous winner-takes-all clash between his side and the Stanford Superstars last November.
The match ended in an embarrassing defeat for England.
He said: "It was not that I was captain at the time, it was the uncomfortable situation of everybody thinking the England team had been sold.
"With the financial state of the world, people were talking about money instead of cricket.
"Those kind of things just didn't seem right to me, so it's not a bad thing we are not going to have that tournament any more.
"I was an ambassador for Stanford - a player face - but that contract has gone."
Criticism
Meanwhile, ECB chief executive David Collier insisted he has not considered resigning in the wake of the fiasco.
However, he has admitted that he and chairman Giles Clarke have discussed their positions.
The pair have endured a welter of criticism in recent days, in particular the perception that the ECB failed to conduct sufficient due diligence before entering into the deal.
On the question of resignation, Collier said: "I have been extremely heartened that many people involved in cricket - and I suppose having worked in the game for 30 years I've probably got as many contacts as anyone - have urged me to continue what they see as the immense progress we've made over the last four years.
"I've certainly looked back and said 'would we have been able to do things differently' and I believe that as professionals we went through all the correct contract procedures. Clearly the board correctly signed off all of the agreements.
"I believe therefore that I could not have done more at that time and I don't think the board could have done more.
"So the answer is no on that."
Regarding any discussion between himself and Clarke over their positions, Collier added: "Certainly I've discussed that with Giles but more importantly members of the board have been phoning to say we have full confidence and you must carry on.
"We've looked back at all of the events and said 'what more could we have done at the time?' It's not as though we've been involved in any of the fraud that is alleged. This is another party altogether."
