Crunch Time for Contract Talks

Lawyers for the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) are poring over the latest WICB proposal to save the tour to Sri Lanka even as the board warned that it was prepared to name second or third stringers as replacements.

Late Tuesday, WIPA attorneys were locked in meetings to peruse the proposed amendment to Clause 5. A meeting of the WIPA executive is scheduled for late evening to determine the next step.

As WIPA's executives prepared to react to the board's moves, the WICB said it had instructed the selection panel to identify replacements and insisted the tour will proceed to meet ICC commitments.

The board said it was also seeking clarification to one of WIPA's latest proposals that concern the long-term effects of binding arbitration.

"In its response to the proposals submitted by the WICB on 25 June, WIPA has agreed that a binding determination on Clause 5 of the Sri Lanka Match Tour Contract by Mr Justice Adrian Saunders, the CARICOM-appointed adjudicator, when completed, should be applied to that Contract with all the attendant consequences," the WICB said.

"The Board is seeking clarification of the statement "with all the attendant consequences" as well as whether the newly revised Clause 5 is the clause that will be submitted for adjudication," it added.

The board's proposed amendment can be seen in its entirety here.

The WICB said its position is that the Adjudicator must include the further ruling on the Individual Sponsorship Contracts as well as the revised Clause 5.