WIPA warn of tough action

BRIDGETOWN: The West Indies Players Association criticised the WICB for shutting out captain Brian Lara and six other players from the first cricket Test against South Africa later this month, the latest development in a feud over sponsorship contracts. Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the Players Association, urged the West Indies Cricket board to reconsider their decision “so that the best team is selected while legal argumentation regarding the contracts ... take their course.”

Ramnarine warned that players may take tougher actions if  the board did not reconsider, though he was vague about what steps those could be. Players may have “no other alternative but to take such actions as may be necessary to protect our members’ rights and the interest of West Indies cricket,” he said.  “We trust that it does not come to this and good sense prevails on the part of the board.” “The players and their career, and the hopes and aspirations of Caribbean people, should not be made scapegoats in this issue,” Ramnarine added. The cricket board announced late Saturday night that Lara  had been omitted because he gave “a noncommittal response” to an invitation to make himself available to play in the Test, which  starts March 31 in Guyana.

Lara, 35-year-old veteran of 112 Tests, and six other players were initially deemed ineligible for selection because of their endorsement contracts with Cable and Wireless, a competitor of official West Indies sponsors Digicel. The board, however, last week lifted the ban on Lara, saying his contract differed from the other six because it was “entered into with the constructive knowledge of the board and with their blessing.” The other six players — Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Smith —  were still prohibited from playing. The board suggested Lara had agreed to participate only if  the others were allowed to play.

“Brian Lara gave a noncommittal response to the West Indies Cricket Board’s invitation to make himself available for the match, in which he neither accepted nor rejected the invitation,” the board said. “In his response, Lara put a proposition to the board that could not have been entertained because it would require players to be selected on the team who were ineligible due to the nature of their personal endorsement contracts.” Ramnarine expressed his “wholehearted support for the position which Mr. Lara has taken in response to the board.” The cricket board’s decision came despite pressure from Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell and other Caribbean leaders to include the seven players.

Mitchell, who is also the chairman of the Caribbean Community’s subcommittee on cricket, has been trying to mediate a solution to the crisis for months. Lara’s absence is the latest setback for the West Indies,  who has dropped to third-to-last in the International Cricket Council rankings, above only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 30, will replace Lara as captain, the board said. The left-handed batsman is a veteran of 80 Tests in a career that started in 1994. The other players chosen were: Courtney Browne, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Narsingh Deonarine, Daren Ganga, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Reon King, Donovan Pagon, Darren Powell,  Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor and Dwight Washington.