Sir Allen Stanford, the billionaire behind the proposed $20million winner-takes-all Twenty20 match between England and a West Indies all-star side, has had talks with the ECB about creating an English version of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Texan banker told The Times that he has discussed developing an English counterpart to the glitzy tournament on the sub-continent and claims to have a group of private investors waiting in the wings.

Stanford, who continued his charm offensive on English cricket on Monday by making a surprise £50,000 donation to the Lord's Taverners charity, said: “It's come up in discussions. The ECB are conservative. They are very, very carefully analysing it. I would look favourably on a proposal. I'm keen that the ECB take the future of cricket in their hands. I'm willing to be a big supporter.

“I think they're going to reach out to private investors and float something, who knows, down the road. I have spoken to people, a mixture of Europeans and Americans. It's a couple of phone calls and we could see something happen. The private sector would be involved, people like myself come in and invest, and the ECB run it. TV revenue would be split.”

Stanford has offered to put up $100million for England to play five Twenty20 games against a West Indies all-star side, on a winner-takes-all basis. Last week Giles Clarke, chairman of the ECB, said it was “very likely” that England would take part in the first game, with Stanford adding that he is “very confident” the series will go ahead.

Julian Hunte and Donald Peters, the president and chief executive respectively of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), are in London for discussions that went on late into Monday night and will continue today. All sides are confident that an agreement will be reached by the weekend.

Stanford believes that an English Premier League (EPL) offers the only realistic prospect of rivalling the riches and razzmatazz of the IPL. “If you ask me who's going to be directing the Twenty20 game in the future, it'll be the English,” he said. “The organisation here is better, the management is better, the structure is better.

“The ECB realise they're at a crossroads. They either let the Indians do it or they step up and get a game plan. You want something that will have lasting value for everybody. The ECB, for my estimation, need to be the driver. It's inevitable that the ECB will create a Twenty20 league, it's inevitable that it will involve the private sector and it's inevitable that the game will evolve.”

However, the American said that any involvement he had with a potential EPL would have to offer a return on his investment and that it would have to be done with a long-term perspective. “With the IPL, when the sizzle and the sparkle has gone away, what's left?” he said. “The ECB will have to look at keeping that going after the first few years. And what if some of these mercenary players demand too much?

“There's two types of investor. There's the philanthropists, who don't exist. The others look at the return. If I do anything outside the West Indies, I want to see what kind of return I get.”

In a statement last night, the ECB said that discussions between Stanford, the WICB and the ECB had been “very productive”, but refused to comment on the possibility of creating an EPL or even whether it had been discussed.

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