Hopes high for cricket solution

ST GEORGE’S: Grenada’s prime minister met  separately yesterday with the West Indies Cricket Board and their players in a bid to help settle a contract dispute that has jeopardised a tour of Australia. Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, the chairman of the Caribbean Community, said he was optimistic about the talks. “We are hoping to offer views on how to proceed and do so without compromising the positions of both parties,” Mitchell said during a break in a meeting with the West Indies Players’ Association.

Mitchell hopes to bring the two sides together for talks after meeting with them separately, said Nancy McGuire, the prime minister’s press secretary. “Hopefully this will mark the beginning of a resolution to the dispute given the importance of cricket to the region,” she said. Mitchell met for about an hour with the cricket board before meeting with the players’ association. Barbados Sports Minister Reginald Farley, sent in place of Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, was also mediating. “We are hopeful for a resolution,” said Kusha Haracksingh, a legal consultant for the players association. Cricket board officials declined comment.

The board ruled ineligible captain Brian Lara and 15 other players this week for not signing contracts to join a training camp in Barbados starting on Monday, in preparation for a one-day tournament with Australia and Pakistan in January. Nine of the 25 invitees did accept the invitation to the camp. The cricket board said they would replace the 16 players they ditched, many of whom helped the West Indies win the Champions Trophy in England in September. But West Indies Players’ Association President Dinanath Ramnarine has advised all West Indies players from the under-19 level and up not to sign any contract they have not fully negotiated. Cricket Australia said they might consider an alternative team if a substandard West Indies team was chosen to tour.

The dispute involves as many as ten senior players, including Lara, who have sponsorship deals with Cable and Wireless, a telecommunications rival of Digicel, who signed a multimillion dollar sponsorship deal with the cricket board last month. The cricket board have said players are barred from endorsing a competitor of a WICB major sponsor without written consent from the board. Ramnarine insists players risk losing their image rights to the cricket board if they sign the contract.