Lequay: No pressure on TT players

TRINIDAD and Tobago cricketers selected to take part in the upcoming training camp under new West Indies coach Bennett King have not been pressured into signing the contentious contracts offered by the WI Cricket Board. This denial came yesterday from Alloy Lequay, Chief Executive Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board who was responding to claims by Dinanath Ramnarine, CEO of the the WI Players’ Association (WIPA). WIPA have urged their members not to sign the contracts and talks with the WICB over the issue have been deadlocked, resulting yesterday in 16 players refusing to comply with the Tuesday night deadline.

Interestingly no Trinidad and Tobago-born players accepted the invitation to the camp comprising Brian Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Mervyn Dillon, Daren Ganga, Sherwin Ganga, and Denesh Ramdin. But Ricardo Powell, a Jamaican who plays for Trinidad and Tobago was reportedly among the nine cricketers who sent in their acceptance letter. Yesterday Lequay said the TT Cricket Board were representatives of the regional body and were obligated to inform the local cricketers about the contract and the deadline for submission. “We did not pressurise anyone. We merely informed them that if they did not sign they would be ineligible for the camp and would not be considered for the one-day tournament in Australia,” said Lequay in a telephone interview from his Cricket Board’s Balmain, Couva office.

He described the deadlock between the WICB and WIPA as “unfortunate” and reminiscent of the 1970s when Kerry Packer, the Australian television tycoon lured away the top Caribbean cricketers to his World Series circus. That left a depleted West Indies team under Alvin Kallicharan who were forced to complete a home series and tour India before a solution between the flamboyant Packer and the ICC was hammered out bringing back the top players into the fold. Lequay, the “wise old man” of Trinidad and Tobago cricket said the warring parties must come together and work out the differences putting the future of West Indies first.

“It’s a difficult situation just when we were lifting ourselves up to have to face this problem,” said a concerned Lequay. He said his recommendation would be for the players to sign a provisional contract which would allow them to play for the West Indies without prejudicing their personal endorsements with Cable and Wireless and their new obligations to Digicel, the regional team’s new main sponsor. “This would give the parties enough time to find a solution acting in good faith,” he said. Lequay lamented the “entrenched trade union” positions of both parties and appealed for flexibility and welcomed the intercession of a mediator to get the talks back on track again. He decried the attempt to push through crucial contract talks in an emergency manner and in a crisis-like atmosphere which he said have contributed greatly to the impasse.