The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Lara among leading players to be dropped

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Sunday, Mar 06, 2005

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Lara among leading players to be dropped

BRIDGETOWN, MARCH 5. The West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara and other leading players will be dropped for the home series against South Africa and Pakistan because of their contracts with former national team sponsor Cable and Wireless.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President Teddy Griffith said on Friday that Lara, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Smith would be not considered for selection because of their existing contracts with a competitor of the board's title sponsor, Digicel.

Griffith made the announcement live on radio and television, clarifying the WICB's position on the most controversial issue that has plagued the region's cricket for four months.

He said the board instructed its selectors to choose a squad of 25 to 30 in preparation for the series and would issue invitations to the players, who would be required to respond by March 11.

A similar scenario unfolded before the January tour of Australia, and 16 of the 25 invited players failed to sign the invitation, on advice from the West Indies Players' Association.

The tour was almost aborted and only saved through a last-minute intervention by Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell.

The WICB President's statement again put forward the possibility of a series under threat. Three days after the March 11 deadline to the players, the board will decide whether the tours will proceed.

The tours by South Africa in April-May and Pakistan in May-June are the first home series under Digicel's five-year, $20 million (euro15.25 million) deal, and Griffith said the WICB could not risk breaching its contract with its new sponsor.

``The players concerned have repeatedly refused to share with the WICB the non-financial provisions of their contract with Cable and Wireless,'' Griffith said.

He added that ``the continued exploitation of these players' images may cause the WICB to be in breach of its obligations to its sponsor.''

The named players would not be considered for selection until ``the board can be satisfied that these contracts are unquestionably in the nature of individual contracts, and contain no provisions which could be construed as passing off by the player of his connection with the West Indies team by attribution or by defining himself as a member of the team.''

Cable and Wireless assured its contracts with the players were within ``the legal boundaries,'' but offered to make ``reasonable concessions'' to avoid jeopardising the South Africa and Pakistan visits.

Cable and Wireless offered to ``limit the number of players that are shown visually in advertisements either in print, radio or television so as not to visually infer that we are a team sponsor.''

It also would refrain from using any reference to the ``West Indies Team'' or the word ``team" in its advertising, and would eliminate all advertising and marketing activities outside the Caribbean surrounding any of the overseas tours, said senior vice president for corporate marketing, Rachelle Franklyn.

Mitchell issued a statement calling the board decision ``extremely unfortunate,'' and said there were ``ongoing negotiations and discussions with the corporate sponsors.''

Griffith's 4,000-word statement also outlined the vast gulf between the WICB and WIPA over financial terms for retainer contracts, which have been under negotiation for the past four months.

The WICB boss said that WIPA's counterproposal to the board's wage offer was almost 45 per cent higher, and could not be met by the WICB in its current financial crisis.

Griffith also said that the WIPA wanted considerably higher match fees for Tests and one-day Internationals, and separate appearance fees.

The WICB offered match fees of $3,600 (euro2,740) per Test and $1,440 (euro1,090) per one-day match for the highest paid players. The WIPA proposed $6,000 (euro4,570) and $2,500 (euro1,900) respectively, an increase of more than 50 per cent.

Griffith said that the West Indies players in the highest category — like Lara — who took part in 16 Tests and 27 one-dayers in a 12-month period, would stand to earn $211,540 (euro161,290) under its proposal of retainer payments and separate match and appearance fees.

Under the WIPA's proposal, Griffith said that the top player would bring in $426,000 (euro324,810). — AP

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