WICB President: No Bowing By The Board (10 November 1998)

10 November 1998

WICB President: No Bowing By The Board

The Barbados Nation

In spite of the WICB rescinding its decision to fire Brian Lara and Carl Hooper, president Pat Rousseau insisted yesterday that there had been no climb-down by the board.

"It was not a matter of either side giving way, it was a matter of misunderstanding," Rousseau said in answer to a question.

He said there would be no increase in the players' fees for the South Africa tour, but that the payments would be restructured.

In future, players with more than 61 Tests will have their "wage bands" increased, he said.

The board also promised "to take all practical steps to improve renumeration of players on future tours", the joint statement said.

Rousseau dismissed calls for members of the board to resign over the crisis, saying it wouldn't achieve anything.

He said the misunderstanding arose over Lara's request to travel to London for a players' meeting rather than go with the team last week to South Africa.

"I don't think we ever really came close to calling off the tour," Rousseau added.

"I haven't had any sleep in the last 48 hours. When we came here we thought it could be resolved. We always took the approach that it would be resolved."

Jimmy Adams, treasurer of the players' association, negotiated on behalf of the players yesterday with Rousseau.

Ali Bacher, head of South African cricket, also was directly involved in yesterday's talks after sitting on the sidelines Sunday.

West Indies tour manager Clive Lloyd and WICB member Joel Garner were also involved in the talks, which began Friday.

Progress was reported over the weekend with the announcement of a sponsorship deal offered by former South African wicketkeeper David Richardson, who runs a sports marketing firm in Johannesburg.

Rousseau said he did not think the problems would harm the tour of South Africa but added: "Any dispute like that must have some spillover. Something like this must have an effect.

"I hope now we go ahead and win the series. The Test match series is the most important part of the tour."

Source :: The Barbados Nation (https://www.nationnews.com/)