WIPA and WICB fail to reach agreement

Despite the initial optimism of Ken Gordon, the new West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president, the board and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) have failed to come to an agreement "on all outstanding issues" on match / tour contracts for senior West Indies cricketers.

The WICB chief says an independent mediator will be called in to handle the negotiations.

The continuation of the impasse, which dates back more than a year now, was announced by Gordon at a "Meet & Greet" reception organised by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 yesterday evening at the CLICO corporate box at the Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain.

After Anand Daniel, chief executive officer LOC, had introduced the WICB president, Gordon went on to clarify some issues coming out of the Justice Anthony Lucky-led Sponsorship Negotiations Review Commitee (SNRC) report, very similar to how he had dealt with the same issue in an address to the Barbados Chamber of Commerce the day before.

Then, Gordon stated that the counsel for both sides - WICB senior counsel Charles Wilkin and Dr Kusha Haraksingh (CARIFORUM Lead Negotiator on Dispute Resolution) - had failed to hammer out a consensus.

Gordon told the gathering, "Up to three days ago, I had hoped to come to you to announce that we had reached an agreement. Unfortunately, we have not been able to and it is not because any side held any ill-will or anything like that. It is just that both sides stood up for what they believed in."

Gordon said an independent mediator will now be called in to hopefully "have the whole matter resolved by October 30."

In his address to the Barbados Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, Gordon had indicated: "Some time ago it was suggested that the ICC be invited to nominate a mediator. If that avenue is acceptable to WIPA, then the WICB is prepared to pursue that option."

On September 15, Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA president and chief executive officer, had stated that he and Gordon had agreed on a way forward to settle the impasse, which began with the meeting between the new two-man negotiating committee of Wilkin and Haraksingh.

On September 21, Gordon again pledged a resolution to the impasse when he met with Grenada Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, the chairman of the Caricom Sub-Committee on Cricket, in Grenada.

Despite the lack of a resolution, Gordon said yesterday that a full-strength West Indies team would be picked for the upcoming tour of Australia, a position he said was endorsed by Ramnarine.