The death of West Indies Test cricket

West Indies Cricket Board officials are turning to Caribbean political leaders for support and guidance in the aftermath of a US $42 million claim by Indian authorities following last month's abandonment of the tour to India by the West Indies team.

On the same day, Friday, that the WICB received formal notification of the claim from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, a meeting was held in Trinidad after which WICB president Dave Cameron confirmed the involvement of regional leaders in seeking a resolution to both the impasse between the players and their own players' association, which resulted in the abandonment of the tour, and the impending legal battle with the BCCI. "This is a matter that we will enlist the support of Caricom (Caribbean Community) going, forward," Cameron was reported as saying.

Dr Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada prime minister Dr Keith Mitchell were present at the meeting. "I think what we have done, we have a modality for the way forward, so that to us is very important," Cameron added with specific reference to the players' impasse. Cameron was among three WICB officials at the meeting in Port of Spain, which was also attended by Dwayne Bravo, captain of the One-Day International squad that left the tour following the fourth ODI in Dharamsala on October 17 and Test team captain Denesh Ramdin, who was also a member of the one-day team.

West Indies Twenty20 captain Darren Sammy has refused to talk about his team's abandoned tour of India, which prompted the BCCI to seek damages to the tune of Rs 258 Crore (USD 42 million) from the Caribbean Board.

Here to participate in the Ram Slam Twenty20 tournament for local team Titans, Sammy presented a straight bat when asked about the series, which his team left after the fourth ODI owing to an unresolved pay dispute.

"I am not short of cricket, as we played in India. I don't really want to talk about the (abandoned) tour. We have always engaged well with India, and we have had a good relationship with them," Sammy was quoted as saying by the media here.

WICB president Dave Cameron might have sounded defiant after the board meeting last week but it is being reported now that the members have forged an agreement to end the players’ pay dispute that led to the West Indies team’s abrupt pull-out from the India tour.

It is learnt that the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) will now renegotiate the cricketers’ contracts, with the players now having a say in payment matters.

West Indies players and their cricket Board are close to ending their payment dispute, according to reports. Outlining the agreements reached during the five-hour meeting held in Port of Spain, the Sunday Sun newspaper said the contentious Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) would go to arbitration, the players would continue to retain the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) as their sole bargaining agent and that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) would not rule out of selection for the upcoming South Africa tour, those players who abandoned the recent one-day series in India, reports Caribbean Media Corporation.