WI chief proposes solution to end dispute

Ken Gordon: 'Our first task is to resolve the WICB and WIPA conflict' © Trinidad & Tobago Express

In a bid to end the impasse between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), Ken Gordon, the new WICB president, disclosed the board's intentions to introduce central contracts by the end of the year.

Currently, the players are given contracts for every tour, whereas most players in other countries are contracted throughout the year, providing additional stability with the sole responsibility of training for, and playing, cricket.

"In recent times, we've had discussions from people in places like Australia and England," Gordon was quoted as saying in The Trinidad Express, "but what was responsible, particularly in the English team, for transforming the team from the relatively indifferent performances you had five or six years ago to the hard, professional unit they have become - and in every case we were told - [was] that it was putting the players under contract, so the players had contracts where they worked full time at cricket.

"Our first task is to resolve the WICB and WIPA conflict," he continued. "We've set that as a clear and distinct objective to be achieved before the end of December, and hopefully well before that. Second is to finalise arrangements to place on contract a minimum of 10 players for the West Indies team."

Moving in the same direction, the players association has called on Tim May, the chief executive officer of the Federation of International Cricket Associations, to help resolve the contract dispute, which has kept several top players like Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle out of the game, and resulted in a second string squad being sent to Sri Lanka.

"Mr May will be meeting with us to give his experience of dealing with similar situations that have arisen in the Caribbean recently and pass on some of his knowledge of dealing with such a situation," Ramnarine told the Trinidad Guardian. May is also expected to meet with Gordon.

May, who recently resigned as the chief executive officer of Australian Players Association, is vastly experienced in players' issues, and is also responsible for negotiating with the ICC on behalf of all players who participate in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean.