10 Players Reject WICB Ultimatum

Wed, Jun 22, '05

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has scheduled an executive teleconference for tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss the future of the senior team's tour of Sri Lanka after 10 of the 13 players rejected its ultimatum to agree to the match/tour contract.

CaribbeanCricket.com has learnt that only three players -- captain Shiv Chanderpaul, fast bowler Darren Powell and rookie Denesh Ramdin -- agreed to make themselves available on the contract terms presented by the WICB.

The WICB dispatched invitations and Match/Tour Contracts to the players over the weekend and gave them a June 21 deadline to indicate their agreement.

The contract include the controversial Clause 5 that is at the heart of the dispute between the WICb and the players' association over individual endorsement rights.

During tomorrow's teleconference, WICB executives will have to decide whether to use replacement players or cancel the tour altogether. There is a chance the 'A' team could be summoned to play the two-Test and triangular ODI series but since some games overlap, it will be difficult to reach agreement with the Sri Lankans to fiddle with the schedule.

Late Wednesday night, WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine sent a proposal to the WICB seeking to settle the matter once and for all by putting all the disagreements before an independent arbitrator.

The two sides had earlier agreed to arbitration but could not agree on the terms of reference for the adjudication process.

WIPA is insisting that the WICB's master sponsorship with Digicel be included in the adjudication because it believes that players' individual rights were sold to the wireless telephone company.

The WICB wants to limit the adjudication to whether the personal endorsement contracts signed by players with Cable and Wireless were entered into as individuals or as members of the West Indies team.