RAMNARINE
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
WEST INDIES Players Association (WIPA) president Dinanath Ramnarine has reaffirmed his commitment to concluding negotiations over the retainer contracts for West Indies players.
It comes in the wake of a call from West Indies Cricket Board's (WICB) Cricket Com-mittee chairman Clive Lloyd for WIPA to meet a deadline of April 15 for wrapping up negotiations with the board.
"Our position is that we are very committed to getting the retainer contracts on stream," Ramnarine said on Monday.
WORKING ON DOCUMENTS
"We have been working on a number of documents, the collective agreement, the memorandum of understanding, the code of conduct, the match tour contracts and that sort of thing."
He added: "Basically we are very close to reaching an agreement. We are looking forward to meeting with the board and trying to get those issues resolved as quickly as possible."
In a WICB release on Saturday, the newly appointed Lloyd called on WIPA to come to the negotiating table with the "aim of concluding the retainer contracts for our players no later than April 15."
Lloyd, the outstanding former West Indies captain and batsman, leads the committee along with the legendary foursome of Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Desmond Haynes and Deryck Murray.
In the past, WIPA has been engaged in several bruising battles with the WICB over varying players issues.
Only last year, the two bodies failed to reach an agreement on match tour contracts leading to the selection of a under strength squad to tour Sri Lanka.
