WIPA Unhappy with Sponsorship $$ Share
There is money trouble anew among West Indies cricketers heading into the 2003 World Cup.
A report from the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) said the West Indies team boycotted a WICB-sponsored media session to introduce LNM Group as World Cup sponsors because the players' association was "disgruntled" over how the money would be split.
WICB chief operations officer Michael Hall confirmed the dispute. In a carefully-worded statement, Hall said: "The members of the West Indies cricket team declined to take part in today's media access session. They have expressed dissatisfaction with the WICB's proposal for the sharing of the recently acquired sponsorship for the team to the cricket World Cup 2003."
Hall said all players had signed the player terms for the tournament, which have been submitted to the International Cricket Council (ICC) ahead of the deadline, and he was unsure whether this latest dispute would have a negative impact on the team's participation for the World Cup.
"You will be aware that this morning the West Indies Cricket Board and the LNM Group through its T&T based subsidiary ISPAT, signed an agreement to sponsor the team to the World Cup," Hall said, making it clear that "the final agreement for the sponsorship was only reached last week."
He refused to discuss the specifics of the pay quarrel, an issue that has plagued many international cricket teams.
CaribbeanCricket.com has learnt that WICB chief executive (acting) Roger Brathwaite will meet with the entire 15-man squad and West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) president, Trinidadian Dinanath Ramnarine on Tuesday night in an attempt to sort out the dispute.
The Sri Lanka cricket team is also having its own pay problems with the team issuing a thinly veiled threat to totally pull out of the World Cup tournament or field a second string. The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) said its offer of performance-based payments at next month's World Cup was turned down by the national squad.