Ramnarine denies writing letter

West Indies Players Association (WIPA) president Dinanath Ramnarine issued a denial and counter-accusations yesterday in his latest response to the West Indies Cricket Board salvo in the spat between the two bodies.

Ramnarine flatly denied being the author of a letter earlier this month in which it was claimed the members of the West Indies team on tour in England had complained about the leadership style of WICB CEO Bruce Aanensen and called for his resignation.

In a cautious response then, Aanensen expressed doubt over the authorship of the letter and on Thursday, in a full media release, openly claimed the WIPA boss was responsible for the document.

The Aanensen release stated: "My information is that this letter was written by Mr Ramnarine to himself on behalf of the players. Some players are aware that he wrote a letter to support his allegations but had absolutely no input into the contents. Others are not even aware of the letter." Yesterday, responding to the charge, Ramnarine declared: "I did not write any letter from the players concerning their displeasure with Mr Aanensen's comments about them."

Ramnarine then claimed incoming WICB president Julian Hunte has accepted that the letter in question is authentic. "I have shown the letter to the president-designate and he has expressed satisfaction that the letter was in fact sent by the players. Hopefully, Mr Aanensen will now also be satisfied and apologise for his accusation."

Ramnarine also took issue with Aanensen's claim that the WIPA president was stalling negotiations for the terms of the West Indies tour of Britain which arbitrators ruled was outside of the previously negotiated agreements. "[I have] requested on three separate occasions, in accordance with normal industrial relations practice, that WIPA submit to us their proposal to allow us to see what they are requesting, and create a basis for negotiations.

"To date, Mr Ramnarine has refused to submit a proposal. The WICB cannot properly prepare for negotiations unless we have received a proposal from the WIPA," Aanensen said Thursday. But Ramnarine's version is starkly different. "It should be noted," he said, "that WIPA has been requesting financial information since June 22, 2007 on which WIPA's proposals would be based. However, on July 24 the requested financial information was received."

On Thursday, Aanensen also sought to clear the air again on remarks in which he reportedly referred to the West Indies players as "incompetent". "The statement, 'a bunch of incompetent cricketers', was made by a former West Indies captain from the commentary box after the Leeds Test match in which the West Indies suffered their heaviest loss in our Test history," said Aanensen. "This statement was the subject of a discussion with a radio host who interviewed me about a series of matters and is not my statement."

But to this claim, too, Ramnarine had a retort. "I quote the Newsday release of June 23, in which the following was reported: 'WIPA wants the Board to give them 110 per cent of revenue and run West Indies cricket in debt apparently. The players are not doing the job but they want more money despite being incompetent,' said Aanensen.

"How does this report tie in with his media release that: 'This statement was the subject of a discussion with a radio host who interviewed me about a series of matters and is not my statement'."

In ending, however, Ramnarine said: "WIPA remains optimistic that a better relationship will be forged under the new administration."