LONDON - A contractual dispute between West Indies players and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is unlikely to halt next year's tour of Australia, a WICB spokesman said today.
The WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) are due to meet in Grenada on Wednesday to try to
settle the dispute, which media reports had said put the tour at risk.
"I cannot see that happening," WICB spokesman Leonard Robertson said, referring to the possible cancellation of the tour. "We are operating in the context of a tour going on."
The WIPA and WICB will meet in Grenada to discuss the ruling of a judge appointed to examine the dispute. Grenadian prime minister Keith Mitchell will mediate in the negotiations.
Robertson said he was non-plussed by reports that the WIPA demands put the Australia tour at risk.
"I was quite surprised to see that ... I really don't know where that came from," Robertson said.
West Indies are due to play a one-day triangular tournament against Australia and Pakistan, with their opening match scheduled for January 14 against the tournament hosts.
The row between leading players, including captain Brian Lara, and the WICB centres mainly around officials' insistence that players cannot, without prior approval, endorse rival companies to the WICB's main sponsor.
The row echoes a similar dispute that threatened India's participation in the 2003 World Cup, when the players were told by the International Cricket Council (ICC) they would not be allowed to endorse companies regarded as rivals to the tournament's official sponsors.
West Indies, along with teams including Australia and England, were also sucked into the dispute before a late face-saving compromise was reached.
The last major clash between West Indies players and officials came before their 1998-99 tour of South Africa.
The players refused to leave their Heathrow hotel for several days following a pay dispute.
The WIPA was unavailable for comment.
- REUTERS
