Digicel rejects arbitration process

The feud between Digicel, the sponsors of the West Indies cricket team, and their rival telecommunications company, Cable & Wireless, was no closer to a resolution last night, after an attempt by Dr Keith Mitchell, the prime minister of Grenada, to instigate an arbitration process was blanked. As a consequence, the prospect of Brian Lara and six of his team-mates being selected for next month's Test series against South Africa is receding. They have signed personal endorsement contracts with C&W that are in direct competition to Digicel, and were last week dropped from the team pending a resolution to the dispute.

According to a report in The Trinidad Express, the two companies met last Monday with representatives of the West Indies Cricket Board and the Players' Association, in an effort to salvage a situation that is fast becoming the most divisive yet to affect the troubled fortunes of cricket in the Caribbean. In a radio address on Friday evening, Dr Mitchell appealed for the recall of the seven key players - Lara, Dwayne Bravo, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul and Dwayne Smith - but according to Digicel, this is not acceptable in the current climate.

In his address, Mitchell had indicated that a possible formula to end the impasse has been reached, claiming that the players' contracts had been scrutinised by WICB lawyers and that concerns had been dealt with. "In light of the above," said Mitchell, "the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket hope that the West Indies Cricket Board will no longer exclude the seven players with Cable & Wireless contracts from the squad selected to prepare for the impending tours."

This, however, has cut no ice with Digicel, who released a media statement to make plain their displeasure with C&W, who had been West Indies' principle sponsors for nearly 18 years, until they chose to withdraw their support last year. "[C&W] decided not to match the unprecedented five-year US$20m sponsorship package which Digicel was prepared to undertake," read the statement, "and while negotiations were taking place, [they] deliberately signed six players to personal sponsorship contracts coinciding with Digicel taking over as title sponsor of West Indies cricket team. C&W did this in the full knowledge that their actions would create great difficulty for the WICB, the six players and the title sponsor, Digicel."

Digicel added that, with regard to Lara and his special status in terms of endorsement deals, they had attempted to offer an enhanced personal contract to replace his existing one with C&W that was due to expire in September 2005. "This approach to representatives of Mr Lara was made in an effort to solve the contract issue and in the interests of West Indies cricket," read the statement. "Unfortunately these efforts were not responded to and in 2004 Mr. Lara extended his C&W contract to a period beyond 2005."

Consequently, Digicel have rejected outright all attempts at arbitration, accusing C&W of jeopardising the future of West Indies cricket by investing US$500,000 on a select group of individual players. Nevertheless, with the Test series against South Africa - Digicel's first as title sponsor - fast approaching, they remain hopeful that a resolution can be reached. "[The series] promises to be a rewarding, fun and memorable experience for the team and fans and our commitment to the entire team is unwavering."