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In his latest blog for Eurosport-Yahoo!, former England batsman Graham Thorpe says the ECB only have themselves to blame for the Stanford fiasco.

Because of the profile of the whole week and the money involved, any little story surrounding Allen Stanford and the England side was going to be snapped up by the media - and that is exactly what has happened with the footage of him and the WAGS.

In a way, the players should have been prepared and forwarned about the attention, and their wives and partners too. Everyone in the England camp should have been ready for the spotlight to be thrown upon them.

No-one should be shocked about the media coverage that the incident generated, and the England and Wales Cricket Board will now appreciate how negative the feeling is about them getting into bed with Stanford.

The bigger issue is what is going to happen now. Stanford has put his money up front, has made it clear what he expects to get out of it, and the ECB only have themselves to blame that the whole thing has turned into a circus.

The very fact that the players are actually coming out and saying that they just want the whole week over and done with shows how deep the negativity runs. I can't see a question mark over the $20m match - it will take something ridiculous for that not to go ahead - but there is no doubt that Kevin Pietersen and his side just want to get things over with and move on.

Only time will tell what happens now, but the ECB are definitely back-pedalling over the whole Stanford deal. They will want to see whether he follows through with his promises about his donations to grass-roots cricket in the West Indies and then have a serious think about the quad-tournament scheduled next September.

Do the ECB really want the Stanford taciness all over Lord's? The guy will still be bankrolling the whole thing, so I can't see him changing his ways too much.

His involvement is still a good opportunity for the ECB to make some money for the England side and grass-roots cricket in this country, but I think they will have to wait for the dust to settle to see whether he has learned any lessons from this week.

As for the actual match itself, I think the players will still be excited by the prospect of making themselves some money, despite all that has gone on. And, far from distracting the players, I can see the incidents of the week actually sharpening their minds on the task in hand. It could make Pietersen and his side even more determined to win the match, take his money and get off the island.

The actual make-up of the side is still very much up in the air for me. No-one in the camp will be sure whether they are playing or not, even at this stage. And even though the players still hold Test matches, World Cups and even ODIs in higher regard than this one-off match, everyone will be desperate to be involved.

As for Pietersen and coach Peter Moores, the task of telling the few unfortunate guys that they will not be playing, that comes with the territory. They cannot be concerned with bruised egos; they still have a match to win.

Eurosport