The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket
The WICB and WIPA have reached agreement on retainer contracts for between 8 and 12 West Indies cricketers.
A source close to the West Indies Cricket Board told CaribbeanCricket.com that both sides signed off on the deal after a marathon negotiating session Tuesday that ended at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
West Indies head coach Bennett King has dismissed as outrageous and absolutely false, media reports which claim that he described former players as "dinosaurs."
"This is completely and totally inaccurate, it's an outright lie," King said in a statement released by media liaison Imran Khan. "I've worked with former players here in the West Indies and all over the world and I have the utmost respect for their outstanding contributions to the game as players and what they can provide to players now."
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following are excerpts from a speech by Dr. Rudi Webster at a "Thinking Sport" seminar held recently in Trinidad & Tobago:
In a year's time we will be hosting the 2007 Cricket World Cup. It will be an enormous challenge and I hope that our team does well. It certainly has the talent to do so. But there will have to be a complete transformation in many aspects of the team's preparation and performance for that to happen. Someone must find a way to help the players release untapped potential.
Dinanath Ramnarine has been re-elected to serve a second two-year term as president of the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA). He was returned unopposed.
For the 30-year-old Trinidadian, the re-election serves as a major thumbs-up from the regional cricketers at a time when WIPA is locked in another bitter round of negotiations with the WICB over retainer contracts.
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) made a proposal to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) on January 12th 2006 on the issue of retainer contracts for West Indies Players. It was a good offer, fully competitive with other Full Member countries of the world.
After some three (3) months, we have been unable to conclude an agreement in spite of an increase on our original proposal of 5 per cent.