West Indies doubts over Zimbabwe tour

The West Indies Players' Association has expressed concern over the forthcoming A-team tour of Zimbabwe which is due to get underway in early July.

Dinanath Ramnarine, the WIPA chief executive, said that the doubts "resulted from discussions with various stakeholders and persons with intimate knowledge of the existing situation in that country". He added: "They have spoken of security treats, violation of human rights and a highly volatile situation that could threaten the safety of the players.

"WIPA has been placed in a further quandary by media reports that a team has already been selected and that a decision to proceed on this tour will be contingent on the advice the WICB receives from the CARICOM Secretariat. Furthermore, under the Memorandum of Understanding between the WICB and WIPA both parties are required to agree on the tour.

"Although WIPA has no knowledge of the team selected, it has, nevertheless, taken the opportunity to speak with some likely candidates and the CARICOM Secretariat about their views on the tour to Zimbabwe. Their input will be critical to WIPA's determining its final position later this week.

"We appreciate the difficulty of this situation for all parties concerned given the importance of such tours for the development of West Indies cricket. However the safety of our players is of paramount importance."