'A' Team Says No to WICB
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has dispatched senior team manager Tony Howard to Sri Lanka to try to get the 'A' team players to fill in as replacements for the Test series but his efforts have been unsuccessful, sources tell CaribbeanCricket.com.
Howard, who is part of the WICB secretariat's operations unit, met with the 15-man squad at the Taj Samundra hotel in Colombo on Sunday morning but only two players -- Tino Best and Kerry Jeremy -- accepted.
One player who was in the meeting said Howard offered them more time to think about the offer but the majority of the squad declined another meeting and agreed to stand in solidarity with the 10 senior players who originally rejected the WICB offer.
The players then signed a letter that was sent to WIPA and the WICB expressing "a show of solidarity" with the West Indies senior team until all contractual matters are resolved.
With time running out before the first Test on July 13, only five players have indicated they would play with the contract that is on the table. They are incumbent captain Shiv Chanderpaul, Darren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Tino Best and Kerry Jeremy.
Meanwhile, in the midst of the WICB's attempts to find replacements, there has been a flurry of negotiation activity between the board and WIPA to salvage the tour.
In a statement issued late Monday, the players' association confirmed it had been exchanging proposals with the board and is working to "ensure that the tour of Sri Lanka takes place with the best players chosen on merit and cricketing ability."
"This is in response to the WICB counter proposal dated June 25th to our proposals sent on the 22nd June by WIPA. It is WIPA?s considered view that having regard to all the present circumstances our proposal is both fair and reasonable to all parties," WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine said. He did not provide details on the proposals.
Two hours later, a statement from the WICB said the board had submitted an amendment to the controversial Clause 5 of the Match/Tour Contract to "make clear its position with respect to individual-player endorsements."
The proposed clause 5 (b) reads:
?The WICB acknowledges that individual Players have the sole and exclusive right to enter into their own individual commercial contracts granting similar image rights as in Clause 5(a) other than as a West Indian Player and subject to Clause 5.1 and Clause 5.2.?
The board said clauses 5.1 and 5.2 speak to intellectual property usage rights and player promotional obligations to the WICB and its team sponsors respectively.
The latest WICB proposal does not address the underlying dispute over the details of the Digicel contract but instead puts forward a four-step process that delays a binding arbitration while the tour proceeds.
"The first step calls for the adjudication process with respect to Clause 1k of the Match/Tour Contracts to be completed by Mr Justice Adrian Saunders, the adjudicator appointed last November by the CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket."
"Step two will see the submission of Clause 5 of the Sri Lanka Match/Tour Contract to Mr Justice Saunders for a binding determination after completion of the first step."
"The third step envisages the two parties meeting with a professional mediator first to agree what is to be mediated and then to discuss the differences, identify the issues separating the parties and agree a mechanism for resolution."
"Any agreed questions that remain for adjudication after the mediation process would then be brought back to Mr Justice Saunders as the fourth and final step. It is the WICB?s intention that this process will be undertaken while the tour proceeds as originally planned," the board added.
However, CaribbeanCricket.com understands that WIPA is standing firm that all the unresolved matters should go to an adjudicator for binding arbitration. The association sees the WICB's four-stage proposal as "stalling tactics."
The WICB also said it is attempting to put a mechanism in to pay a fixed percentage of the net annual Digicel sponsorship of US $3.375 million through the life of the five-year contract.
This, the board said, would remove the unsatisfactory manner in which the level of sponsorship fees is decided upon for individual tours. There has however been no agreement between the parties on the fixed percentage.
The Board said it cannot afford the proposal put forward by WIPA for the tour to Sri Lanka.