ICC and FICA agree solution to West Indies dispute

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) have reached agreement on resolving the outstanding dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Player Association (WIPA).

The agreement should bring an end to their long running contractual dispute.

In October the WICB and WIPA invited the ICC and FICA to examine the issues to see if the game's international governing body and the representative body for all recognised player associations could resolve the contractual dispute that was damaging West Indian cricket.

As part of this invitation, both the WICB and WIPA agreed that they would accept and abide by the agreements reached by the ICC and FICA.

ICC Chief Executive, Malcolm Speed, said that both parties had made concessions in the interests of resolving this dispute.

"To reach agreement, both sides have made concessions in order to reach a sensible, balanced and pragmatic solution to what is a difficult and complex issue," said Mr Speed.

"The agreement reached between the ICC and FICA provides the WICB with certainty in exploiting its commercial rights and deals with the issues raised by the the players."

FICA Chief Executive, Tim May, said that the agreement would remove the issues that had previously resulted in some West Indian players not being considered for selection.

"Both sides have made a number of concessions in order to find a solution and from a player's perspective, I think what has been agreed will now ensure that the best players are representing the West Indies in international cricket."

Both Mr Speed and Mr May deferred to the WICB and WIPA to determine what, if any, details of the agreement should be made public.

"The issues involved are complex and commercially sensitive. The ICC and FICA have reached agreement only in the last day or so and the documentation is only now being forwarded to both parties," said Mr Speed.

"They will need the opportunity to understand the detail of what has been agreed and to explain it to their own stakeholders. From the WICB perspective, it will obviously need the opportunity to speak with its members and with its commercial partners before it and its players' association could consider what, if any, details of the agreement should be made public."

Mr May said that WIPA would also need the opportunity to brief its members before it would be able to release any details of the agreement.

"The West Indies players are currently in Australia and we need to respect the right of the players to receive a full briefing on the agreement that has been reached directly from WIPA," said Mr May.

"The issues that have been discussed deal with sensitive contractual and commercial matters and WIPA and the WICB are best placed to consider what, if any, details of these agreements should be made public."

The documentation of the ICC/WICB agreement is currently being finalised and will be with the WICB and with WIPA within the next 24 hours.