Majority of West Indian squad begins camp

The West Indies team is back on track, well almost. The squad - minus five players - practised on Wednesday under the supervision of newly appointed coach Bennett King. The squad now has a three-week camp ahead of them. Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels and Wavell Hinds were the five yet to join the squad after disagreements over commercial issues in the players' contracts rocked the squad.

The players have agreed to wear the Digicel logo on their clothes at training, but there are still issues to be resolved, said an Associated Press report. "We agreed to attend the training camp ... We also agreed to wear the Digicel clothing during the camp," said Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players' Association. "But [the players] are entitled to be compensated for this, and while they won't be paid during the camp, we will negotiate their fees with the board ahead of the Australia tour and include it in the tour payments."

Digicel recently signed a US$20 million, five-year deal with the board. The players were worried they risked losing their image rights if they signed the existing WICB contracts. The players are apparently also upset by the suggestion that some of them may be required to share rooms in order to cut costs.

Meanwhile King said that these off-field distractions did nothing to hamper the progress of the training. "It hasn't disrupted me in any way actually," said King. "Certainly we've had to shift things in the program to cater for when everybody comes in. But from my perspective, I'm here to coach cricketers."