Sponsor contract row

Hope of deal in the Caribbean

Cricinfo staff

June 30, 2005

Dinanath Ramnarine: unhappy with the content of the unseen Digicel contract © Cricinfo

The row between players and board which has threatened the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka appeared to be close to a resolution last night after the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) came within touching distance of a settlement. It is in no way an armistice, but it is at least a ceasefire which should ensure that the strongest team leaves the Caribbean on Friday.

Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA's president, said that there was substantial agreement, and it appears that the board has backed down over its seeming reluctance to have the controversial Clause Five included in binding arbitration. Once the exact wording of that arbitration is hammered out, WIPA is expected to advise its members to sign the match/tour contracts, and that will allow the originally-chosen squad to reassemble.

While the row over player contracts rumbles on, WIPA has again questioned the true value of the deal between the WICB and Digicel. That contract is at the heart of all the disputes which have blighted cricket in the Caribbean over the last year.

On Wednesday, Ramnarine openly challenged the board to reveal the details of the contract. Although the board has claimed that WIPA has a copy, Ramnarine said that he had only seen an unsigned version, adding that he believed the final document differed from the one in his possession. "The figures quoted in your letter of the June 25 are very different from the unsigned copy of the contract that was given to us by you," he wrote in a letter to the board. "It is also different from the figures used by the WICB's president [Teddy Griffith] in his address to the Caribbean people and it is also different from what is reported by the sponsor in the media. In other words, the figures so far have changed from US$ 23 million to US$20 million to US$18.75 million to now US$16.75.

"We are grateful for the unsigned copy which you have provided," he concluded, "but we must still insist on sight of a signed copy." The suspicion Ramnarine appears to hold is that the board has deliberately reduced the value of the deal as part of its strategy for negotiating with the players over their sponsorship remuneration.

© Cricinfo

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