Lara PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP):
BRIAN LARA and other top West Indies players have been ruled ineligible for a January tournament against Australia and Pakistan after refusing to sign a contract due to a dispute over sponsorship deals, sources involved in the dispute said yesterday.
Lara, the team captain, was among a core group of senior players that held an emergency meeting yesterday with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) at a hotel in Trinidad, a source close to the players association said on condition of anonymity.
Twenty-five players had until Tuesday night to sign an invitational contract to join the triangular tournament in Australia and a training camp in Barbados that begins Monday.
A West Indies cricket official identified the others who didn't sign up as Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Bravo, Courtney Browne, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Sherwin Ganga, Daren Ganga, Chris Gayle, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Devon Smith.
NINE SIGNED
The official, who also requested anonymity, identified the nine players who signed the contract as Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Reon King, Runako Morton, Darren Sammy, Narsingh Deonarine, Dwight Washington, Xavier Marshall and Deighton Butler.
The board, which is now deciding on 16 replacements, did not officially name any of the players who signed or didn't sign the contract.
"The players who did not accept the invitation ruled themselves out of consideration for this tour," the board said. "This does not prevent them from being considered in the future should they merit inclusion."
Lara and the players have not officially commented on the matter.
The main dispute involves as many as 10 senior players, including Lara, who have sponsorship deals with Cable and Wireless, a telecommunications competitor of Digicel, which recently signed a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with the cricket board.
The cricket board has said previously that players are barred from endorsing "a competitor of a WICB major sponsor unless he has a pre-existing agreement with such a competitor that was approved in writing by the WICB".
The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the WIPA finished nearly 18 hours of talks last week without a resolution.
West Indies cricket players are not paid a retainer and make the bulk of their income from advertising. If they sign the contract, they risk losing their image rights to the cricket board, WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine said recently.
DISCUSSED POSSIBLE COMPENSATION
The cricket board says the two sides had discussed possible compensation for players required to give up individual endorsement deals. The compensation could come in the form of "advertisements and personal appearances on behalf of the major sponsor," the board has said.
Another dispute arose when the players' association ac-cused the board of bypassing it and going straight to 25 players with invitations to the Barbados training camp.
The players association has urged the players not to sign until the contract dispute is settled.
