Although an official announcement has yet to be made, it is being widely reported that Allen Stanford is set to confirm a substantial reduction in his investment in cricket both internationally and in the Caribbean.
Last December, Stanford shut his cricket office in Antigua and dissolved his self-styled board of legends. And in January signs that the global economic downturn was hitting home came with the announcement of 200 redundancies at Stanford's Antigua-based investment company.
It is believed that the 20/20 for 20 event, which was unveiled with a garish launch at Lord's last June but took place amid unflattering headlines and negative reporting in November, will not happen again.
And while Stanford is expected to honour his commitment to take part in a quadrangular Twenty20 tournament in England this summer, it might well turn out to be a one-off rather than the first of five annual events as planned. Both Stanford and the ECB are understood to have break clauses in the contract signed last year.
The one crumb of comfort for Caribbean cricket is that his Stanford 20/20 tournament, in effect the West Indies domestic Twenty20 event, seems likely to continue, albeit in a reduced form. Of all Stanford's ventures, that was the most successful in terms of publicity and also spreading cricket throughout the region. Whether the various islands will benefit as handsomely as in the past remains less certain.