West Indies board meets players over tri-series

The West Indies Cricket Board has issued a media release countering "misleading information in recent media reports" which indicated that the board had entered into a tri-nation series to be staged in Malaysia and Singapore without discussing the proposal with the players.

On Sunday, the Indian board (BCCI) announced the series, although on Monday Cricket Australia was more cautious, indicating that talks were still taking place regarding exact arrangements.

The WICB statement said that it had been invited to participate in the series and was talking to players' representatives before making any commitment to take part. The first of those meetings took place today and the the WICB is expected to provide more details of the proposal in the coming days.

The West Indies Players' Association is known to have been trying to get clarification from the WICB about matches proposed outside the Future Tours Programme for several weeks but has been unable to make any headway until now.

Earlier this month, Cricinfo revealed that a deal had been signed between the WICB and BCCI to stage matches in North America, but plans to hold games in the USA and Canada broke down after it proved impossible to find acceptable venues. "It is only when those efforts on the part of North America failed in the last two weeks that BCCI has been making subsequent efforts to arrange a series in the Far East," the statement concluded.