Mediator says board's surprise document sank talks

The West Indies players' dispute could have been settled this week but for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) submitting a new document at the last minute, according to the mediator Sir Shridath Ramphal. Talks broke down between the WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) after more than a month of mediation over contract disputes, leaving a second-string team to represent West Indies at the Champions Trophy and raising doubts over when the leading players will be available.

The CARICOM-appointed mediator Ramphal, a former Commonwealth secretary-general, said that with a day of negotiations remaining earlier this week, he had been confident the parties would reach an agreement. However, Ramphal's report, which has appeared on caribbeancricket.com, indicated the WICB had surprised him and the WIPA with the late addition of a new set of requirements.

"As those efforts were unfolding, the board produced an alternative document which differed in significant respects from the evolved text and was not acceptable to WIPA," Ramphal wrote. "It was the only text the board was willing to sign ... [and] it was proposed should be kept 'secret' while a protracted arbitration process on fourteen issues was pursued."

However, WICB vice-president Dave Cameron said the board needed to submit the new proposal as Ramphal's earlier interpretation of the board's positions "did not reflect the views and issues of the WICB".

"That is part of the problem," Cameron told the Trinidad & Tobago Express. "None of the issues we brought to the table, we felt, were being dealt with in a serious way and we kept saying that there could only be a long-term solution if we deal with these issues."

But the board also came under fire from Bharrat Jagdeo, the president of Guyana and the CARICOM chairman, who met with WICB and WIPA representatives in July before appointing Ramphal as mediator. Jagdeo said the WICB had hurt negotiations right from the start by not disclosing that a second-string Champions Trophy squad had already been selected.

"The members of the board did not disclose to me or to WIPA that the board had already selected a 'B' team for the Champions Trophy in South Africa," Jagdeo said. Ramphal agreed that the non-disclosure had "handicapped the 'mediation' - but did not halt it."

The breakdown in talks leaves arbitration as the most likely next step. Cameron said arbitration was almost inevitable, because "some of the issues neither party will be able to resolve".

Dinanath Ramnarine, the WIPA president and CEO, said the association's executive and players would meet in Guyana over the weekend to discuss their next move. He said it was disappointing that the WICB had introduced the new "not negotiable" document when a resolution had appeared to be within sight.

"After our meeting over the weekend we are going to be very clear as to how we proceed going forward given the action taken by the board," Ramnarine said.

For now, Floyd Reifer will continue as acting captain and will lead a severely weakened side to the Champions Trophy after he also led the team to Test and ODI series losses against Bangladesh. The players' strike has also raised concerns in Australia that West Indies will send a weak squad for their Test series beginning in Brisbane in November.

Chris Gayle said it was too early to predict when he and the rest of the leading players would make themselves available. "It's sad but this is how it is," Gayle told CMC. "The last thing we wanted to do was bring the game into disrepute and make the cricket have to suffer."