New threats to West Indies cricket

"Not again. Not now...my hope is that common sense will prevail all around." That was the comment yesterday by Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, in responding to reports of the latest dispute to surface between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and West Indies Players Association (WIPA).

The sensitive issues involved include the WICB's surprising exclusion of all-rounder Dwayne Bravo from a retainer contract as offered to seven others, and a planned meeting by the board with skipper Brian Lara to discuss recent controversial comments at the conclusion of the fourth Test in the series against India, including being handicapped as captain by the selectors.

Mitchell confirmed to the Sunday Express that he had received a telephone call from WIPA's president and chief exective officer Dinanath Ramnarine about implications for the future involvement of Lara and Bravo in the West Indies team.

"But I am awaiting a promised letter from WIPA," he explained, in order to also obtain the views of the board before considering what relevant approaches should be pursued with his CARICOM colleagues. "What is at stake is the future of West Indies cricket, at a time when we are collectively spending millions and millions of dollars in preparation for next year's Cricket World Cup. This is not a time for us to be faced with another crisis in relations between the board and the association and I hope common sense prevails on all sides," added Mitchell.

In a statement issued on July 15, when the board disclosed the exclusion of Bravo from retainer contracts offered to seven other players, the board signalled that it may have to resort to "appropriate action", even as Lara has himself hinted of reviewing his availability for captaincy of the West Indies team.

The board said it had considered "at length recent statements and actions" of Lara during and after the conclusion of the final Test match against India at Sabina Park, Jamaica, and a committee, headed by WICB president Ken Gordon, was established to investigate "all matters" pertaining to his statements. The committee, which hopes to meet with Lara by this week, "will take such actions as considered appropriate" after hearing from him.

Along with Gordon, three other committee members named are former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, ex-CEO of the board Gregory Shillingford and Sir Alister McIntyre, former vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies.

In a circulated e-mail note, Shillingford has already warned that it appears from "various responses, through e-mails from the ICC and FICA and communication from WIPA and others, we are heading down the same disastrous path that we travelled down previously..."

Responding last Wednesday to the WICB's expressed concern over statements by Lara, as well as the exclusion of Bravo from a retainer contract that could be in conflict with an agreement with official sponsors Digicel, the Players Association accused the board of disregarding rulings by both FICA and the ICC pertaining to "respective commercial and promotional rights".

Claiming lack of "information promised to us by the board" by last week, WIPA have warned of their readiness to "take such steps as necessary to protect the rights and interests of their members".