Lloyd wants contracts wrapped up quickly

Clive Lloyd, the newly-appointed West Indies Cricket Board's Cricket Committee chairman, says he wants the negotiations over retainer contracts for players wrapped up swiftly.

Clive Lloyd aims to conclude the retainer contracts for players no later than April 15th © Getty Images

In a WICB press release on Saturday, Lloyd called on the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) to come to the negotiating table with the "aim of concluding the retainer contracts for our players no later than April 15". Ken Gordon, WICB president, had said earlier this year that the retainer contracts for players would have been finalised by January, but that never materialised. However, he said in February the WICB was awaiting a response from WIPA to proposals put forward and hoped to have the contracts finalised "in the near future".

The 61-year-old Lloyd, who failed in his bid to become a WICB vice-president last year, will chair a committee comprising several outstanding former West Indies cricketers. Michael Holding and Andy Roberts, the fast bowling legends, along with Desmond Haynes, the distinguished opening batsman, and Deryck Murray, the former wicketkeeper, comprise the committee that has been issued with a five-point mandate.

The committee has been charged with the responsibility of keeping "all matters related to Caribbean and international cricket under ongoing review and, to offer expert opinion for the guidance of WICB decision making". It will also be responsible for advising the WICB on the selection and conditions of employment of the coaching staff and to be the senior coach's principal point of contact with the board. In addition, it will "keep the performance of the coaching staff under review and guide the WICB accordingly, approve and monitor the effective implementation of the West Indies Cricket Development Programme and work closely with the Win World Cup Committee, the Territorial Boards, the Stanford Twenty20 initiative, and all other events which impact on West Indies cricket".

Lloyd, who represented West Indies between 1966 and 1985, had made several recommendations recently related to the structure of the WICB's Cricket Committee. "The Cricket Committee is an important arm of the board and warrants some attention," Lloyd pointed out. "It would seem a good proposal, therefore, given its pivotal role, for there to be at all times five cricketers of established reputation on it."

Murray, also president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board, has been chosen to head the negotiating committee that will meet with WIPA to finalise terms of the retainer contracts.