Adams under the gun (12 November 1998)

12 November 1998

Adams under the gun

By Garth Wattley

The West Indies cricket team is now back on the field of play, preparing to flex its muscles against the South Africans.

But for eight days previously, the historic tour had come under threat as the players, in a united show of strength, clashed with the West Indies Cricket Board over the terms and conditions for the tour.

Captain Brian Lara and vice-captain Carl Hooper were early casualties in the stand-off, having been fired from their posts and withdrawn from the tour.

But it is now emerging that more than just two careers were at risk.

James "Jimmy" Adams, treasurer of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and a key player in the London negotiations who was fined 10 per cent of his fees, was also in grave danger of being dismissed.

Adams, it turns out, had been summoned along with Lara and Hooper to appear before the WICB at the November 4 meeting in Antigua. Like the other two, Adams declined the "invitation".

On November 2, the day after Lara and Hooper left Bangladesh for London to join the Jamaican, WIPA president Courtney Walsh and five of their teammates, WICB CEO Stephen Camacho issued this directive on behalf of the Board:

"I am again instructed by the president to invite you to meet the Board in Antigua tomorrow (Wednesday) 4th November 1998 to discuss your failure to travel to South Africa as arranged by the Board. You are allowed to bring your legal representative and I can advise that the WIPA Chief Executive Mr David Holford, has also been invited to the meeting."

The correspondence continues:

"The West Indies Cricket Board is the authority for cricket in the West Indies and as such is the body to resolve conclusively any dispute with the players. If you ignore the Board's request to attend the meeting, the Board will proceed in your absence.

You are now directed to take the flight arranged for you later tonight and proceed to Antigua as quickly as possible."

Earlier, on November 2, Adams had also received this communication from the Board.

"It has come to our attention that you are in breach of your tour contract in not travelling to South Africa on the flight scheduled for you.

"Arrangements have been made for you to travel tonight to South Africa on BA 57, which departs Heathrow at 8 p.m.

"If you do not proceed as stipulated, it will prejudice your future involvement with West Indies cricket."

The nature of the "prejudice to your future" is not clear but the Express understands that, at one point in the impasse, Adams might even have faced outright dismissal.

The player's decision to stay on in London allowed him to be part of the talks which resulted in Monday's six-point agreement between WIPA and the WICB.

That agreement sought to address one of WIPA's chief concerns as articulated during the early stages of the crisis, the "respect for the players by the WICB."

That "respect for the players" was what, according to one source, made the separation of fees for Test and One-day Internationals a point of contention.

Under such a system, for instance, Walsh, a veteran of 102 Tests, could come away from the tour with US$29,550. By comparison, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a relatively junior but regular member of both the ODI and Test teams, can earn close to US$32,000.

"You do not know who will be selected for the One-day series," one source explained.

"But the time (players in both series, plus players in only one) they spend on tour is barely reduced. That really is the core thing. The new idea of dividing the tour into two parts obviously affects some players."

But there is hope that future dealings between board and players will be far less complicated.

"There is an agreement on paper that they have signed too," the WIPA source said. "And they will have to make the effort to keep it."

Source :: The Trinidad Express (https://www.trinidad.net/express/)