The International Cricket Council on Saturday stuck to its decision to withhold India's guarantee money from the World Cup due to the dispute over contracts issue, but said the team's prize money would be left untouched.

The two-day Executive Board meeting in Johannesburg also decided to withhold payments to England and New Zealand for their boycott of a match each in Zimbabwe and Kenya respectively, ICC President Malcolm Gray said.

Indian cricketers had refused to sign ICC's Players' Terms for the World Cup due to some restrictive clauses on personal endorsements.

To ensure their participation in the tournament, ICC had accepted substantially relaxed terms offered by the players on the condition that it would not release India's guarantee money, in the range of 8-9 million dollars, till the issue was resolved by arbitration.

The payments for England and New Zealand were withheld due to expected claims from sponsors and TV broadcasters for losses due to the two teams' refusal to play their matches.

Gray said the money would be withheld for at least six months to compensate the sponsors and TV companies in case of claims from them.

England stands to lose $3.5 million of its share from the World Cup profits for refusing to travel to Zimbabwe to play its group match against the hosts. New Zealand may lose $2.5 million for not playing in Kenya.

The different amounts were based on estimates of potential revenues from the two matches.

The Contract Row: The Complete Coverage