London, Feb. 21 : England's players became uncertain about their finances after hearing that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will not be associated with disgraced Texan tycoon Allan Stanford.

The ECB insists that the 18 first-class counties will not be out of pocket even though they were due for a handout from Stanford, The Sun reports.

The Board on Friday cut-off all contractual ties with Stanford after he was charged with serial fraud worth over six billion pounds.

Stanford's Twenty20 for 20, which was due to run for another four years, has been scrapped. The ECB were due to rake in around 2.4 million pounds each year from the event.

The Twenty20 tournament involving England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Stanford's team has also been axed. Prize money was worth around 6.2 million pounds.

"The ECB was shocked by the charges filed against the Stanford organization," Chief Executive David Collier said.

"Given the uncertainty of the financial markets and sponsorship dispute between Digicel and the West Indies Board during Stanford matches, we took a contingency in case the matches did not proceed. So, there will be no impact on fee payments to counties in 2009," he added.

Collier and ECB chairman Giles Clarke remain under fire, with Hampshire boss Rod Bransgrove describing their involvement with Stanford as "a tacky relationship with a tacky person".

Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson added: "I think they need to take a look at themselves." (ANI)