Stanford saw to it that he was carved into a larger than life figure in the Caribbean, getting almost as much play on TV during games as stars and their exploits on the field.

He played it to the hilt, but it seems now that while the true blue Texan professed to have fallen deeply in love with cricket, he did not learn a cardinal principle of the game – when you are at the crease you have to guard your wicket.

The man knighted by Antigua as ‘Sir Allen’ stepped out of his wicket and has been stumped.

He, up to yesterday, was a man on the run, hitting world headlines in a manner that has overshadowed his cocky innings in cricket in the Caribbean.

U.S., Latin American and European investigators yesterday widened probes into his far-flung financial empire after he was this week accused of “massive fraud”.

On Wednesday, ABC News, citing U.S. federal authorities, reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation and others had been investigating whether Stanford was involved in laundering drug money for the Mexico Gulf cartel.

The fallout from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud case against the flamboyant 58-year-old sports entrepreneur has rippled far beyond U.S. borders, prompting investigations from Houston to Antigua and Caracas.

There is no doubt that Stanford’s incursions into cricket in the West Indies brought fresh interest in the game, among especially young people, through the 20/20 matches and the big US dollar sums awarded to winning teams and outstanding players.

The day and night matches pulled huge crowds to grounds and had cricket fans everywhere glued to TV sets during tournaments. The Stanford 20/20 bug dug deep into West Indies cricket and it will be hard to find an antidote to cure the epidemic, especially with the mounting fallout from the global financial crisis.

And the hurting is not only among cricket lovers in the region. Those who invested in Stanford’s schemes and were customers of his banks are trying desperately to get their money back or cut their losses.

The lesson in all this, as it usually is in tales of this nature, is that people everywhere have to beware of Trojan Horses and those who come bearing gifts. Sometimes, all that glitters is not gold.

The Stanford dream turned nightmare also bolsters the case for stringent financial checks and balances to ensure people who invest their hard-earned money in schemes and plans put up by newcomers, especially in developing countries, have some measure of protection.

Millions in the U.S. and other parts of the developed world are feeling the pain of losing homes, jobs and savings and more seems to be in the offing with the unfolding Stanford horror story.

Stanford may have loved cricket – but for many his game was simply not cricket.