Players Association, Board to meet

West Indies cricket officials will meet next week with the regional players association to discuss allegations that they bypassed the group when inviting players to a training camp, officials said. The West Indies Players Association issued a statement earlier this week, saying that it had instructed 25 players invited to a three-week training camp starting on November 29 in Barbados not to sign their contracts. The association and their president Dinanath Ramnarine cited concerns over the conditions stipulated by the West Indies Cricket Board and also claimed that officials had not included them in the process.

The board have agreed to discuss their conflict with the association next Thursday, Ramnarine said on Wednesday. West Indies cricket players are not paid a retainer and make the bulk of their income from advertising. If they sign the contract, they risk losing their image rights to the West Indies Cricket Board, which recently signed an exclusive sponsor’s contract with Digicel, Ramnarine said. Cricket officials have denied the association’s claims, saying it had been provided with a copy of the contract in early October, well in advance of the one-day triangular tournament in Australia in January. The board said they had asked the association four times to provide the players with the contract’s terms and conditions.