Cable & Wireless late Thursday announced the conditional
release of six West Indies cricketers from individual endorsement
deals, a move that clears the way for a full-strength team to take
the field in the second Test against South Africa.
The latest twist does not affect the company's endorsement deal
with
Brian Lara, a contract that was blessed by the West Indies
Cricket Board (WICB). Additionally, C&W made it clear the
releases were being granted "until such time as [Caricom
arbitrator] Justice Saunders completes his adjudication and
delivers his rulings."
The West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) is demanding that
the WICB's master sponsorship contract with Digicel be included in
the arbitration proceedings to determine whether it violates the
rights of players.
In a strongly-worded statement in which the WICB is accused of
being "tyrannical and despotic," the players' association said the
arbitration process will only be fair if the terms of the Digicel
deal are closely examined.
Cable & Wireless late Wednesday said it had not received any
communication from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle regarding the
reported termination of their private endorsement deals.
A report on Wisden Cricinfo said the termination notice was
faxed the phone company but, in a statement, C&W was it was
"working to separate fact from fiction."
West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle have
terminated their personal endorsement deals with Cable &
Wireless, according to a report on the Wisden Cricinfo Web
site.
The report said that attorneys for the duo had informed Cable
& Wireless that they were ending their personal contracts with
immediate effect. Cricinfo reported that it was likely that the
four remaining affected players- Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Fidel
Edwards and Ravi Rampaul. - would follow suit very shortly.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) wants Caricom arbitrator
Justice Adrian Saunders to issue a binding ruling on the nature of
the contracts between Cable & Wireless and seven West Indies
cricketers.
Facing accusations that it acted as
judge, jury and executioner throughout the dispute, the WICB
said the arbitrator's review of the C&W contracts "would be to
determine whether the personal endorsement contracts were
unquestionably in the nature of individual contracts and contained
no provisions, which could be construed as passing off by the
Player of his connection with the West Indies team by attribution
or by defining himself as a member of the team."
