Full-strength West Indies to tour Australia

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) have agreed that players selected for the upcoming tour to Australia will sign the match/tour contract subject to the negotiations of Clause 5 which, when agreed, will be placed immediately in the contract.

The rather dry announcement from the West Indies board removes the final obstacle in the way of the players completing the contractual formalities, and ensures that West Indies will send a full-strength squad to Australia. To everyone's relief, there will be no repetition of the farcical events which dogged the Sri Lanka tour when a virtual reserve side was fielded after leading players refused to agree to WICB contracts .

WIPA and the WICB also agreed that the ICC and the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) will be asked to negotiate Clause 5 of the match/tour contract with a view to making a joint recommendation within ten days of commencing the negotiations. This joint recommendation will be binding on the parties. If there is no agreement, then the ICC and FICA will recommend an independent arbitrator.

This breakthrough follows lengthy discussions between Ken Gordon, the WICB's president, and Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA's CEO.