WICB, WIPA head for another war

THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) are set for another war that is if the 15 players selected for the tour of Sri Lanka next month, listen to their representative body. It is understood that yesterday, after several discussions between both parties and the independent match adjudicator Justice Adrian Saunders, nothing was resolved over the current Match/Tour contracts for the Sri Lanka tour. Newsday has discovered that the Match/ Tour contracts were sent to WIPA, early this month, but WIPA have not been willing to agree to the contracts in their present form.

“Yet again, it is the section, known as Clause 5, in the contract which is all about the sponsors rights and the players obligations to fulfill these rights, which is the major stumbling block,” a source close to the team in Barbados said. “Apparently Justice Saunders has asked for more time to make a ruling on the individual contracts he now has in his position, to determine what impact they have on clause 5, and while the West Indies Board is willing to proceed with the tour in the mean time, WIPA is adamant that it cannot agree to this,” he added. “This is a very critical decision to the future of West Indies Cricket and it is perhaps understandable that Justice Saunders will take so long over it, he has to look at the nature of this contract under Clause 5 and the whole question of individual contracts, although some will say that only one player is concerned in all of this and that is Brian Lara, as all the others have given up their Cable &  Wireless contracts,” he stated.

Newsday understands that the WICB was surprised at this because “similar Match/Tour contracts were issued prior to the South African/Pakistan series in the Caribbean, and the individual players selected all went ahead and signed,” noted the leading cricket administrator. “Does this mean that WIPA was against this at the time,” he asked. “It would not surprise me to see that the WICB do the same thing again, and see if the players selected sign and ignore WIPA, which would further weaken their hold,” he remarked.

Another source close to the West Indies Players told Newsday, “While the West Indies Cricket Board  appear to be waiting on the adjudicator, it is surprising that WIPA is not , because they have always been supporting the intervention of the adjudicator appointed by the Caricom Prime Ministerial committee on cricket. “We must not forget, that if the WICB lose this part over Clause 5, it means they will have to return to the table with DIGICEL, and this whole five-year contract could be terminated, so this is all the more perplexing,” he declared.