ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Both the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) appear to be backing down yesterday from positions on which they agreed during the mediation process under former Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Shridath Ramphal.
The WICB has decided to pursue disciplinary action against the players that breached its Code of Conduct, and the players’ body has ruled out a role for the Caribbean Court of Justice in upcoming arbitration proceedings.
The regional governing body indicated that disciplinary action against offending players had been initiated prior to the commencement of mediation.
“[It] had been suspended in favour of a settlement through mediation,” said the WICB in a news release.
“The WICB had as part of its compromise in the mediation effort offered to withdraw all disciplinary action against the players.”
The WICB news release added: “With the failure of mediation, the next step would have been the settlement of all matters through arbitration which the WICB will be pursuing immediately.
“The WICB has decided to resume disciplinary action against all West Indies players who had committed breaches of the WICB Code of Conduct during the England’s, India’s, and Bangladesh’s tours of the Caribbean by referring these matters to the WICB Disciplinary Committee.”
The WICB did not itemise all of the breaches of its Code of Conduct, but the players are likely going to be asked to respond to well-publicised charges from the three series.
Against England, the players blocked the logo of the team’s sponsor during the first One-day International in Guyana, where they also failed to attend a cocktail reception hosted by the same sponsors.
The players also failed to show for the official launch of next year’s Twenty20 World Cup to be staged in the Caribbean during India’s visit.
Things then came to a head, when 14 leading players withdrew from Bangladesh’s tour of the Caribbean to dispute outstanding pay and contractual issues.
WIPA also agreed that with the mediation having broken down, a number of proposals are no longer applicable.
“With regards to the resolution of the outstanding issues between the parties, the involvement of the Caribbean Court of Justice was not and is not under consideration as far as WIPA is concerned,” said the players’ body in a separate news release.
The release explained that during the mediation process, Sir Shridath was successful in obtaining the services of judges from the Caribbean Court of Justice and another from the Court of Appeal in Belize to sit in their personal capacity as an arbitration panel to hear two referrals.
At the same time, President and Chief Executive Officer of WIPA Dinanath Ramnarine also defended his position as far as being absent from the mediation process for two days.
He said that the WICB and WIPA had an agreement, subject to the acquiescence of a third party to a particular course of action which seemed very likely.
WIPA noted that it was – in this context – that he and WIPA attorney Dr. Kusha Harracksingh left the meeting.
“Prior to leaving, he made arrangements to have any outstanding details in the proposed agreement finalised and signed by Donna Symmonds, another one of WIPA’s lawyers, who was present at most sessions of the mediation,” said the news release.
WIPA also disclosed that Ramnarine had taken the opportunity of several players being in Guyana to play in a friendly match at the invitation of Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo to meet with his colleagues, and update them on the state of play between the two sides.
