BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The West Indies Cricket Board has maintained its tough stance against striking players, warning them Tuesday they had breached their agreements while moving to suspend payment to those on retainer contracts.

In a media release, the WICB said it had written individual letters to all the players involved in the West Indies Players Association strike action informing them of the various breaches and requesting they respond within ten days.

In addition, the Board indicated that because the contracts had been violated, retainer contract payments had been “suspended immediately … until such time as you indicate in writing to the WICB your resumption of obligations under the contract.”

The Board’s move is the latest development in the impasse which started last week in the build up to the first Test against Bangladesh and which resulted in a makeshift side being selected for the match in St Vincent.

In the letter, the WICB informed players they had breached their contract by failing to attend the official cricket launch of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Championship in St Lucia, refusing to travel to St Vincent for the first Test and then refusing to make themselves available for selection.

According to the Board, each player had been informed they had breached rule 6 of the WICB Code of Conduct which stated that “players and team officials must not at any time engage in behaviour unbecoming that could bring the game of cricket into disrepute or be harmful to the interests of cricket.”

The WICB said it had also written to WIPA indicating that the strike had also breached the Memorandum of Understanding and the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the two parties.

The Board also revealed it had requested that the dispute be referred to mediation.
On Wednesday, WIPA announced they had asked for CARICOM’s help in brokering a solution to the impasse.