Sport

Hopes high for Sri Lanka tour

Dinanath Ramnarine.. WIPA president. - file

HOPES OF A full-strength West Indies tour of Sri Lanka were resurrected yesterday evening following reports of a "tentative deal" being worked out between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and West Indies Players Association (WIPA).

Reports from the website, CaribbeanCricket.com, claim a "sticking point" in the contract talks was the real value of Digicel's sponsorship deal with the West Indies Cricket Board.

According to CaribbeanCricket.com, WIPA is asking for a signed copy of the master sponsorship deal to help compute the players' cut.

Questioning whether the deal was worth, US$23 million, $20 million $ 18.75 million or $16.75 million, WIPA says it cannot agree on the level of sponsorship fees until it can determine how much Digicel is paying to the WICB.

'Very different'

The CaribbeanCricket.com report quoted a letter sent to the WICB yesterday by WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine, saying the figures in the board's latest offer were "very different" from the unsigned copy of the contract given to WIPA.

Ramnarine said WIPA had requested a copy of the signed contract since July 2004 for exactly this reason.

"It is also different from the figures used by the WICB's President, Mr.Teddy Griffith, in his address to the Caribbean people, and it is also different from what is reported by the sponsor in the media," Ramnarine was quoted as saying.

In WIPA's view, the board has deliberately reduced the net value of the deal as a negotiation tactic to cut down on the players' percentage.

Ramnarine said the conflicting information "makes it very difficult" for WIPA to agree to a percentage of the sponsorship available without knowing the exact value of the contract.

However, the WIPA president confirmed there was "substantial agreement on the way forward".

Another issue that needs to be clarified is the full wording of an agreement that will see the controversial Clause 5 included in binding arbitration.

Once both sides sign off on binding arbitration of all issues (to be done through a process of professional mediation by a third party), WIPA is expected to give the original 13-man squad the go-ahead to sign the match/tour contract on offer.

The contract will include the WICB's amended Clause 5 while the arbitrator rules on whether it restricts the players' rights to individual private endorsements. The arbitrator will also rule on whether the player contracts with Cable & Wireless are strictly private in nature and does not pass off the player as a member of the West Indies team.

The arbitrator's ruling will be retroactive to this Sri Lanka match/tour contract.