West Indies captain Brian Lara. - file BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
West Indies captain Brian Lara says he wants to play in the tri-nation series in September and has urged the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to reach an agreement on the troubling contracts issue.
The West Indies Cricket Board announced late Friday it would issue tour contracts directly to the players for the tournament involving India and Australia, after failing to agree on financial terms with WIPA this week.
"I am going to be playing cricket. Definitely, I'm going to be playing cricket," the batting superstar told CMC Sports yesterday after being questioned on if he was prepared to sign one of the individual contracts being offered by the WICB.
"I want to play cricket so as I said, there is some sort of work to be done to finalise things and I'm sure they (WIPA and WICB) are going to get it done as soon as possible.
"Most definitely this has been done before (issuing individual contracts).
"As captain of the West Indies Cricket team, it's a situation where I have to play a very important part."
He continued: "I don't know all the facts so it's impossible for me to tell you a position and I'm not someone to take an independent position and I think a rationale must come out of it.
"Hopefully WIPA, who represents the players and the West Indies Cricket Board, our father figure, can come together, not just on this issue but on issues in the future. I think there needs to be more harmony between the two groups."
pay demand unacceptable
The WICB said Friday that WIPA's pay demands for the one- day international tournament in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were "totally unacceptable" and said they could not afford to meet them.
While they were offering players an unprecedented 488 per cent on normal match tour fees, the board claimed WIPA was asking for 847 per cent on normal match tour fees.
"I think both parties have to come together under one roof. Being a part, we are the players, we are the employees and the West Indies Cricket Board are the employers and we have to come together and work and we have to work from the bottom right up to the top, but there must be some harmony between both, some sort of dove-tailing instead of one pulling at the other and always a dispute," Lara contended.
"That in itself does not create for a healthy relationship moving forward.
For West Indies cricket to move forward, everybody has to be under one roof.
"Everybody has got to be moving forward in one direction and be happy with each other."
The tournament, an outcome of the cooperation agreement signed between the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the WICB earlier this year, is tentatively scheduled for September 15-29.
Lara, who was at the helm when the West Indies captured the Champions Trophy in 2004 in England, sees the tri-nations tournament as a crucial buildup for his team as they prepare for the defence of their Champions Trophy title in October.
"What I like about it is that it will be perfect preparation for the ICC (International Cricket Council) tournament, playing against teams like Australia and India in that tri-nations definitely will get us prepared for defending our trophy that we won couple years ago at the Oval," the 37-year old said.
"The guys are looking forward to it and it will be excellent preparation."
