West Indies tour of Australia in jeopardy

West Indies' tour of Australia has suffered another jolt, with the players demanding US$500,000 as appearance fees and the board subsequently rejecting that demand. The West Indies Players' Association wanted the money for the 14-member team in addition to match fees, tour fees and incentives, according to Chetram Singh, a board official.

According to an Associated Press report, Singh, who is also the president of the Guyana Cricket Board, said that the demand "puts the tour in jeopardy". Singh also termed it as "absolute madness", hours after the players' representative, Dinanath Ramnarine, lay it in front of the board. The players were paid a total of US$390,000 in appearance fees for 2004, which included four Tests and seven one-dayers against England before two Tests and five one-dayers against Bangladesh.

West Indies' tour of Australia was almost called off last month after most of the senior players, including Brian Lara, stayed away from a training camp because of a conflict over personal endorsements. The players felt that they risked losing their image rights because of their contracts with Cable & Wireless, the rival company of Digicel, the board's new sponsor.

The board barred the players from the camp but both parties soon agreed, after mediation, to resume the camp on November 29 and allow an arbitrator to sort out the issue.