West Indies Cricket Crisis

Sources close to WIPA told CMC Sports yesterday that the players’ union president and chief executive, Dinanath Ramnarine had met with WICB Cricket Committee member, Deryck Murray twice in the last two days but nothing had come out of these meetings.

Murray, a WICB director and the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, had met with Ramnarine last Thursday in an attempt to resolve the outstanding issue.

A retreat hosted by WIPA for its members at the Hilton Trinidad since Thursday came to an end yesterday, with officials again remaining tight-lipped on the state of negotiations.

Players returned to their respective territories yesterday.

With the negotiations ongoing, it means the West Indies side, when selected, will have little time to prepare ahead of their first One-Day International of the seven-match series against Zimbabwe, scheduled for April 29 in Antigua.

The WICB’s Cricket Committee had recommended a deadline of April 21 for negotiations to be wrapped up. Failing that, the committee said, the team for the upcoming Zimbabwe series should be selected from the players who made themselves available.

On Friday, former WICB president, Reverend Wes Hall called on players to urgently find a solution, reminding them to consider their demands in light of the regional body’s weakened financial state.

Differences remain between WIPA and the WICB over the monetary terms of the retainer contracts, with Ramnarine arguing that players would make less than before under the proposed terms.

In contrast, the Cricket Committee, headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, said the proposal made was “a good offer, fully competitive with other (International Cricket Council) Full Member countries of the world.”

Zimbabwe is set to arrive this week with India to follow in May for four Tests and five ODIs.