PORT OF SPAIN, (Reuters) – Talks between the West  Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the players’ union ended after  just 23 minutes yesterday when the board refused to negotiate  while the players remained on strike.

The leading test players from the Caribbean have boycotted  the series against Bangladesh, which began with the first test  yesterday, due to a dispute about contracts and payments.

While a makeshift West Indies team took the field in St.  Vincent, negotiating teams from the board and the West Indies  Players Association (WIPA) met at a hotel in the Trinidad  capital to try to hammer out an agreement.

The meeting lasted just 23 minutes.

A statement from the board said they had agreed to pay what  they called their ‘former players’ amounts based on previous  negotiations as an “act of good faith” but no progress was made  on the series of issues highlighted by the WIPA, including  retainer contracts.

“WICB impressed upon WIPA that it was not prepared,  consistent with good industrial relations practices, to  negotiate under duress, and insisted that before any good faith  negotiations commenced, the players’ strike would first have to  end,” read the statement from the board.
“WIPA refused and the meeting, which had begun at 9.37  a.m., concluded at 10 a.m..” None of the 13 players initially selected for the first  test against Bangladesh appeared in the game and the board was  forced to swiftly assemble a team featuring seven uncapped  players, following the strike announcement on Tuesday.