Cricket war heats up again

WIPA stated yesterday that they were disgusted by a decision by the WICB not to grant allrounder Dwayne Bravo a retainer contract and for captain Brian Lara to explain comments made after a Test series loss to India recently,

The Players’ Association has accused the regional board of reneging on an agreement made between the parties based on the ruling of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and FICA, the international player’s body.

WIPA stated in the release that both the WICB and WIPA agreed to follow the ICC and FICA ruling on issues pertaining to respective commercial and promotional rights and obligations of players.

The agreement relates to collective bargaining between the parties, a memorandum of understanding, retainer contracts, match tour contracts, the code of conduct by the WICB as well as other matters.

WIPA has said that the actions of the WICB are a total disregard of the agreement made between them.

Lara, the multiple world record holder was chastised for statements made after a loss to India in the final Test of the series in Jamaica about the team that was selected and the pitches that were prepared for the matches. Bravo, who is considered one of the region’s best with the bat and the ball as well as in the field was excluded from a list of players to get retainer contracts because he had a personal endorsement contract with Cable and Wireless (C&W), rivals of Digicel, main sponsors of the West Indies team.

The 22-year old Bravo is currently playing for Kent in the English County Cricket Championship.

Ramnarine pointed out that he will have no choice but to take steps to protect the rights and interest of members as WIPA sees fit.