WICB Drops Lara, 15 Others

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has dropped Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and 12 others from the original 25-man squad for the upcoming tri-nation ODI series in Australia.

The board said only nine of the 25 players had accepted the invitations, meaning that the 16 had ruled themselves inegible. The WICB did not provide the names of the players who had signed.

A source confirmed that the four players who have individual endorsement deals with Cable & Wireless did not sign. He, however, declined to provide the names of those who had signed, and hinted there still may be room for a resolution since the pre-tour camp does not begin for another five days.

The players' association is meeting in Trinidad & Tobago Wednesday to decide on its response.

At the same time, the WICB said its selection panel will meet to invite 16 replacements. New coach Bennett King, who arrived in the Caribbean on Tuesday night to assume the post, will chair the meeting.

The board still has to deal with a situation where those 16 replacement may not accept the invitations.

"The players who did not accept the invitation ruled themselves out of consideration for this tour. This does not prevent them from being considered in the future should they merit inclusion," the board said.

More to come...