A second meeting involving the major parties in the latest impasse in West Indies cricket will be convened today.
Through the facilitation of the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, WICB president Dave Cameron and One-Day International captain Dwayne Bravo will meet in Trinidad in an attempt to resolve the dispute involving the regional governing body, the players and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA).
In a release from the Office of the Prime Minister in St Vincent and the Grenadines yesterday, it was noted that efforts were made to secure the attendance of WIPA president and chief executive officer Wavell Hinds but Gonsalves had been unable to make contact with him. Hinds, however, had been informed of the meeting through a text message from Bravo.
Bravo, who is said to be representing the overwhelming majority of the West Indies cricketers, will be accompanied by Ralph Thorne QC, while the WICB will be represented by attorney Luke Hamel-Smith.
The items on the agenda will be the resolution of the impasse (centrally the contractual terms and conditions of the players) and the “non-discrimination and non-victimisation” of the players by the WICB.
The meeting follows an earlier session between WICB officials and players’ representatives in Jamaica last Sunday.
Gonsalves will be available for today’s consultation by way of telephone. His prior engagement at a meeting of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, of which he is currently the chairman, makes his attendance at the meeting highly improbable.
The release from Gonsalves’ office also noted it should be emphasised that Bravo and his colleagues were reaffirming their availability for selection to the Test, One-Day and Twenty20 teams for the upcoming tour of South Africa.
It is also emerged that Bravo and his fellow players were seeking the possible intervention of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the impasse. In this regard, the prime minister was shown a draft letter that was sent to the ICC.
The ICC is expected to discuss the issue at a board meeting next week.
“I think there’s a genuine desire at the ICC next week to get things back on track,” Wally Edwards, chairman of the ICC’s executive committee, said in a published interview. (HG)
