West Indies drop 16 players in contract dispute for Australian VB series

[steds]

time for Dave Mohammed to take centre stage?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

time for Dave Mohammed to take centre stage?

It was just a matter of time ey?

 

[steds]

yup

 

[Mister Wright]

I read in The Age this morning that Australia were considering alternative invitations, but there just aren't that many teams with a free roster at the time (and I don't think they'll be inviting Zimbabwe in the near future).

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Woeful-Windies-headed-for-a-hidings/2004/11/25/1101219684432.html

I can't see them cancelling the VB series. Too much revenue lost, even if interest becomes confined to the Pakistan v Australia games. I wonder if they'd consider having New Zealand over a little longer, and including them instead? It'd all be at very short notice though.

I think New Zealand are in Sri Lanka.

It could be a good opportunity to add two minnows, such as Kenya & Canada, give them some exposure on the big stage.

 

[Jono]

I heard only India and Kenya will be free at the time.

 

[Mr Casson]

I heard only India and Kenya will be free at the time.

Cricinfo also says that Australia 'A' might be considered for the tournament. It would no longer be a completely international tournament, but I still think it would be competitive for all three sides, and I'd very much like to see it happen.

 

[Mister Wright]

Cricinfo also says that Australia 'A' might be considered for the tournament. It would no longer be a completely international tournament, but I still think it would be competitive for all three sides, and I'd very much like to see it happen.

Yeah, it would be great to go along and barrack for Australia 'A' to beat Australia like I did last time.

 

[wahindiawah]

Instead of Aus A , it would be a good idea to Invite india a to play as the third team.

I would love to see Indian A team headed by Jadeja, and which includes players like Mongia, Badani,Kambli, gagendeep singh,Munaf etc.

 

[brockley]

India free to play Australian tri-series
November 26, 2004 - 1:29PM

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Get Jagmohan Dalmiya on the phone.

Australia and India could play the limited overs matches that were sadly lacking from the just-completed tour of the sub-continent if a replacement side for the West Indies is sought for next year's tri-series.

Only India and Kenya have free schedules, and you don't need to be Einstein to work out Cricket Australia's preferred option.

Watching Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar open the batting would be preferable to having Kennedy Obuya and Ravindu Shah stroll out.

Every other International Cricket Council nation is tied up while the tri-series is contested from January 14 to February 8.

Bangladesh and Zimbabwe will be playing Tests at a location yet to be determined.

New Zealand's first Test against Sri Lanka starts on January 15. England will be in South Africa for Tests and one-dayers.

The tri-series was thrown into turmoil when the West Indies board dumped captain Brian Lara and 15 other players for not signing letters of invitation to a three-week camp in Barbados that was to begin the side's preparations for the tri-series, which also features Pakistan.

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AdvertisementEmergency meetings are being set up in Trinidad to resolve the dispute.

The problem is that the dumped players have sponsorship deals with Cable and Wireless, a telecommunications rival of Digicel, which recently signed a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with the team.

Cricket Australia's general manager of public affairs Peter Young said on Thursday an alternative team would be considered for the series in preference to the Windies fielding a sub-standard side.

Crowds, profits and interest would plummet without the Windies' best players, primarily Lara.

India will already be in one-day mode, coming off three matches against Bangladesh that finish on December 27.

Dalmiya, the Indian cricket boss, would undoubtedly be eager for his side to contest such a popular and lucrative series. Pakistan is going to India for a two-month tour straight after the tri-series.

Australia's just-completed trek to India included four Tests but no one-dayers because the tourists needed to rush back home to start the Tests against NZ.

Australia defeated India in the 2003 World Cup final at Johannesburg and their rivalry is the best in the game right now.

Young said the issue "was not on the radar" for the time being because his organisation's focus was on the NZ Test series.

He said nothing had been heard from the Caribbean, and CA boss James Sutherland would wait until next week "at the earliest" to seek information.

 

[marc71178]

Instead of Aus A , it would be a good idea to Invite india a to play as the third team.

I would love to see Indian A team headed by Jadeja, and which includes players like Mongia, Badani,Kambli, gagendeep singh,Munaf etc.

Only problem is they'd be even less of a draw than the Lara-less Windies, and why would Australia want to help another countries up and coming players?

 

[Deja moo]

Instead of Aus A , it would be a good idea to Invite india a to play as the third team.

I would love to see Indian A team headed by Jadeja, and which includes players like Mongia, Badani,Kambli, gagendeep singh,Munaf etc.

Why not bump Australia too and bring in Aus A instead ?

 

[age_master]

Instead of Aus A , it would be a good idea to Invite india a to play as the third team.

I would love to see Indian A team headed by Jadeja, and which includes players like Mongia, Badani,Kambli, gagendeep singh,Munaf etc.

what the hell would the point of that be who would go to a pakistan vs India A match?

 

[bryce]

it would be great if they could get the indians over there but i think it would be alot better for cricket in general if west indies sorted out this contract dispute and sent a full strength squad to aussie.

 

[garage flower]

Things seem a bit more positive now. The WICB and WIPA are meeting again today and Teddy Griffith (WICB President) is attending. This after the Board had said the contract clause that's causing the problems was non-negotiable. Grenada's Prime Minister is also getting involved as an independent mediator.

All this talk of inviting India or the minnows is just the Aussies running scared of the ICC Champions. Any excuse to avoid a thrashing!

EDIT: link if anyone's interested http://www.caribbeancricket.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1602

 

[Mr Casson]

This doesn't add up.

Surely the WICB had prior knowledge of the West Indian players' contractual obligations, so why would they sign a deal with a rival company?

They should have known that bringing in a rival would cause conflict and potentially prevent their best players from going to Australia. Knowing that, why they would risk sending a sub-standard side over to Australia? The lack of interest and revenue would surely cause their new sponsors to dump them eventually anyway.

Assuming that they can force the West Indian players into cancelling their personal endorsement deals is blatant bullying.

Or have I missed something?

 

[nightprowler10]

it would be great if they could get the indians over there but i think it would be alot better for cricket in general if west indies sorted out this contract dispute and sent a full strength squad to aussie.

I'd much rather see WI in the VB series. This series always brings back fond memories from when I was in Pakistan and used to stay u all night watching Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar thrash Aussies. (sigh) good ol' days.

 

[viktor]

Instead of Aus A , it would be a good idea to Invite india a to play as the third team.

I would love to see Indian A team headed by Jadeja, and which includes players like Mongia, Badani,Kambli, gagendeep singh,Munaf etc.

c'mon, the full team can't win a game against these guys and you want to send an 'A' side??

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

This doesn't add up.

Surely the WICB had prior knowledge of the West Indian players' contractual obligations, so why would they sign a deal with a rival company?

They should have known that bringing in a rival would cause conflict and potentially prevent their best players from going to Australia. Knowing that, why they would risk sending a sub-standard side over to Australia? The lack of interest and revenue would surely cause their new sponsors to dump them eventually anyway.

Assuming that they can force the West Indian players into cancelling their personal endorsement deals is blatant bullying.

Or have I missed something?

They need a major sponsor and I think C&W's sponsorship ran out. Either C&W didn't make a new offer, or the WICB went in the direction of more money (they certainly need it!). It was purely a business move AFAIK.

WIPA has stated something to the effect that the WICB would have to buy over the endorsements which the players have signed.

 

[Slow Love™]

They need a major sponsor and I think C&W's sponsorship ran out. Either C&W didn't make a new offer, or the WICB went in the direction of more money (they certainly need it!). It was purely a business move AFAIK.

WIPA has stated something to the effect that the WICB would have to buy over the endorsements which the players have signed.

It bothers me that the board can seek to invalidate contracts that individual players have already signed, because they've made a new agreement themselves (it would be slightly more acceptable if they were enforcing an arrangement that applied only to NEW individual sponsorships, but only slightly).

I don't like the way that marketing and intellectual property contracts are going in that regard - IMO, if the players displayed both groups of sponsors, everybody should be happy - including where competitor products are concerned. IMO, there's still a large benefit from the advertising involved, and this above all penalizes the player group's earning capacity too severely. This acceptance of such extreme conditions of exclusivity by sporting bodies is a really bad precedent, IMO. Didn't we see security harrassing members of the crowd carrying the wrong soft-drink brand at the last World Cup? This has to stop.

It seems similar to what happened to the BCCI before the '03 World Cup, where the ICC demanded that they make sure their players weren't violating their (the ICC's) exclusive sponsorship deals.

 

[Slow Love™]

Well, the players who refused to renegotiate their contracts have been invited to the training camp anyway now, so I guess that's some small kind of progress...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport...to-attend-camps/2004/11/27/1101495445206.html