ECB May Sue Pca Over Media Allegations
English domestic cricket faces further unrest after it emerged that the England and Wales Cricket Board is considering legal action against the players’ representative body the Professional Cricketers’ Association over its role in the now aborted negotiations with scandal-hit Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford.
The ECB is reportedly furious over newspaper accusations that the chief executive, David Collier, wanted the Professional Cricketers’ Association to put pressure on the England captain, Andrew Strauss, and his players to sign a new deal with Stanford during the first Test in Jamaica.
The ECB has since ended all dealings with Stanford after the Texan was accused of ‘fraud of shocking magnitude’ by the US financial regulators.
It is understood that the ECB will consult lawyers about claims in a Sunday newspaper, attributed to a PCA official, that Collier leant on its chief executive, Sean Morris, to increase the pressure on the England players during the Test to sign a revised agreement with Stanford, scrapping the $20m Super Series but agreeing to a new quadrangular tournament at Lord’s.
While the ECB has admitted negotiations with Stanford about the revised deal were ongoing up to the week before the Securities and Exchange Commission served him with civil legal papers, Collier was said to be unhappy at the suggestion he encouraged Morris to intervene during the Test, which England went on to lose.
