Rich rewards for woeful Windies

More than half-way through the tournament and with their chances of advancing to the semi-finals diminishing after three heavy defeats in the Super Eights round, the West Indies players finally got clearance yesterday to sign their contracts for the World Cup 2007.

It followed the second ruling by an independent arbitration committee that first met on February 11 to settle a disagreement between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) over certain terms and conditions.

Details were revealed on Tuesday night in a statement signed by arbitrators, Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmons, former Attorney General of Barbados and Bermuda Elliott Mottley and management consultant Dr Aubrey Armstrong. Under the arrangement, players are expected to earn between US$110,000 and US$180,000 for the tournament, depending on experience.

Although the rulings on February 11 were accepted as binding, the panel noted that "it was deemed expedient" to seek further arbitration on "new issues" that had arisen between the two parties in the interim. Some of those issues caused such disquiet within the team that there were reports of a threat to strike prior to the start of the tournament in Jamaica. As a result of the second arbitration, the 15 players in the World Cup squad would split their 22% share of the US$ 11.5 million the WICB is receiving from the International Cricket Council (ICC) "in accordance with a tiered, hierarchic formula as recommended by WIPA and accepted by WICB", the arbitrators stated.

They also determined that contributions to the players' Provident Fund be made in accordance with the standard WICB Match/Tour Contract, as was argued by the WIPA. The division of the ICC money is known to have been a sensitive matter among the senior players since fees are normally paid according to experience based on their number of Tests and ODIs.

The WICB had initially offered the players a 13% share of the US$ 11.5 million expected from the ICC but the arbitrators decided on 22% along with "an appropriate sum representing three per cent" to go to "a fund for the development of other regional cricketers". The remaining 75% would be retained by the WICB.

The panel also ruled that, in addition to its 25% management fee for certain sponsorship revenue, the WICB should deduct a further 40% of the sponsorship income "for its own purposes" and pay the remaining 60% to the WIPA.

The WICB have contracted Slazenger, the bat manufacturer, and Mittal, the steel company, as two new joint sponsors for the World Cup.

Digicel, the Irish-based mobile telephone operation that took over from rivals, Cable and Wireless, as team sponsors for home and away international series in 2004 is ineligible for the World Cup since Cable and Wireless is one of the official sponsors.