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Kevin Pietersen said England failed to look beyond "the nonsense" after being humbled at the hands of the Stanford Superstars.

A dismal batting display saw England bowled out for 99, while a Caribbean side inspired by the heavy-hitting Chris Gayle made light work of the target to get their hands on the $20million winner-takes-all prize pot.

An ECB review of the competition, for which England have signed a five-year contract, is imminent and Pietersen is eager for any repeat visits to the Caribbean to be more professionally handled.

Much has been made of the cash on offer, as well as the conduct of Sir Allen Stanford himself following his on-camera flirtation with some of the players' wives.

"During the week we haven't been concentrating on the cricket, there's been a lot of nonsense during the week and we haven't concentrated on the cricket," Pietersen told Sky Sports.

"We should be focusing on the cricket. A lot of nonsense happened this week and I've just said to the lads that the key to what we do is concentrating solely on our cricket.

"Everything that has gone on this week, in terms of what has been done in the cricket and everything around it... it's been a week of other things.

"What we have to focus on now is batting, bowling and fielding. We're going to have to buy into the competition a lot more.

"We need to make sure we are 100% focused on winning games of cricket for England and leave the other things to other people."

Stanford Superstars assistant coach Roger Harper was full of praise for a side that contained a mixture of experienced West Indies stars and unheralded prospects from domestic cricket.

"It's difficult to say what it means but it's a fantastic achievement," he told Sky Sports.

"As a group it means a lot to us. It showed if you come together and work hard for a common focus, you can achieve anything.

"When we came together there were a few questions but as time passed and we put in the hard work, we all believed it was possible."

Harper also stressed Stanford's cash must not be an end in itself and should be used as the launchpad for a rejuvenation of the game in the West Indies.

"What I would seriously hope is that we learn from this as a team and as an organisation and that we build on this," he said.

"It's got to be the start of something. The players have a big cheque to collect but we need to use this to move West Indies cricket to another level."

Stanford hailed the success of the Superstars and expects it to be followed by a resurgence for the West Indies team on the international stage.

The Texan told Sky Sports: "Three years ago we started an experiment to get young kids who were going elsewhere back into cricket and to reward the best players in the Caribbean for their professional skills.

"We're doing it, the results are here tonight. We will beat anybody in the world with this team. We are back, we're going to take the world again. This programme is working."

Sporting Life / Eurosport