Potential clash of sponsor fuels WI dispute

The ongoing dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and its players boils down to concerns about possible clashes between contracts signed by individual players which may conflict with the board's new major sponsor.

The WICB had also been slow in paying the players' salaries and bonuses from as far back as the England tour in August. Although the board is known to be short of cash and waiting for a bank loan to come through, the revelation that administration and back-room employees had been paid on time hardly helped the situation. A statement from the board revealed that non-payment of outstanding monies had occurred before.

The Barbados-based Nation newspaper reported that the dispute arose after there were concerns that the contracts from the WICB, which has responsibilities to their new sponsor, would conflict with some players' own agreements. Digicel, the new sponsors of West Indies' home series, replaced Cable & Wireless, one of their main rivals, who did the job from 1986 and gave over US$50million to the WICB in that time. But some players, Brian Lara among them, who became free agents after the Champions Trophy in England, have made their own deals with Cable & Wireless.

Dinanath Ramnarine, the president of the West Indies Players Association, said in a media release that "some of the conditions [for playing] have nothing to do with cricket but represent an attempt to exploit the players for commercial purposes".

Although the board has agreed to start making the payments, representatives from the players association and the WICB will meet on Thursday to discuss the tour contracts for the forthcoming series in Australia.