After two weeks of conflict which saw a second-string team being pressed into action against Bangladesh, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) have agreed to mediation following a meeting with CARICOM Chairman, President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The parties met at the Office of the President yesterday and they signed a memorandum of understanding there, potentially bringing an end to the impasse between the two parties and the strike by the West Indies cricket team.
WIPA had written to President Jagdeo asking him as CARICOM Chairman to intervene, reminiscent of the intervention by former prime minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell when he was chairman, to bring back a state of normalcy to West Indies cricket.
President Jagdeo brought together Dr Julian Hunte, President of the WICB and Dinanath Ramnarine, President of the WIPA and other representatives of the two organizations at the Office of the President yesterday to negotiate a truce between the two parties in the interest of West Indies cricket.
Senior West Indies players including captain Chris Gayle, Guyanese Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan and others had boycotted the recently-concluded two-test series in the Caribbean against Bangladesh, forcing the WICB to raise a second-string team that was defeated 2-0.
The outstanding issues between the two sides revolve around the failure of the WICB to pay the players for the last four tours and to provide them with retainer contracts.
The Head of State, who assumed the CARICOM Chairmanship on July 1, had moved quickly to resolve the outstanding issues between the parties, given the importance of West Indies cricket to the region.
Jagdeo met with the representatives of the two organizations separately to establish their requirements, before bringing them together to iron out their outstanding issues.
According to a press release from the Office of the President, the two parties have reached agreement for the immediate mediation of the dispute between them.
Under the agreement, the parties have jointly invited Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary-General, to be the mediator. They have done so on the basis of their mutual acceptance of the importance and urgency of resolving the immediate differences between them, and setting their relationship on a path of lasting cooperation.
It was also agreed that in light of the mediation agreement which the parties expect to lead to the resolution of outstanding issues, all the players will make themselves available for selection.
Speaking with reporters after their meeting with Jagdeo, Ramnarine and Hunte both said that they were happy with the way things have turned out after their talks with the CARICOM Chairman, but said that due to the fact that they have agreed to mediation, there is only so much that they could say.
“The discussion came off well between us and I’m happy, but we can’t say no more but in due time everything would unfold,” the WICB President said. “We are comfortable with what was said here today and the agreement between the two parties but like he (Hunte) said we are under mediation so there is only so much we can say right now, but like I said we are happy,” Ramnarine added.
It was not stated whether the full-strength WI team would return for the two One Day Internationals (ODI) between the West Indies and the touring Bangladesh side scheduled for July 26 and 28 in Dominica.
However, the WICB had named a second string team for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champion’s Trophy in September which will be held in South Africa but based on the arrangement between the WICB and WIPA, it is presumed that that list would be squashed to make way for the regulars.
