HINDS BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):
Left-handed batsman Ryan Hinds has pulled out of the West Indies A team's touring party to Zimbabwe, leaving the contentious tour in further doubt.
Informed sources said Saturday that the Barbados captain had opted out of the tour for undisclosed reasons, even as the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) remained at loggerheads over the proposed series in the troubled African nation next month.
Hinds, 26, has been replaced by Barbados teammate, opener Dale Richards who is currently playing professional cricket in England.
The player's pull out from the squad coincided with the Barbados Cricket Association's confirmation Saturday that he had been banned for two first class matches and fined 40 per cent of his match fee for his on-the-field behaviour during last season's ill-tempered final of the Carib Beer Challenge between Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago.
Hinds' ban had initially ruled him out of contention for the post of vice-captain for the Zimbabwe tour after the WICB executive had turned down that recommendation from selectors'.
Hinds' decision to opt out of the squad follows that of captain Sylvester Joseph who informed sources have indicated has also stood down for the tour.
Joseph, a member of the recent Test squad for the series against England, has been replaced by Windward Islands all-rounder Rawle Lewis.
No agreement
WIPA and the WICB have failed to reach an agreement on the tour, with the players' union saying they could not sanction the series because of concerns over players' safety.
But on Thursday, the WICB's corporate services manager Tony Deyal told CMC Sports that the tour would proceed as planned "unless the West Indies Players' Association provides us with overwhelming reasons why we shouldn't."
Players are scheduled to leave on June 30 for the series that includes three four-day and two limited overs matches.
Meanwhile, a two-match ban on Barbados captain Ryan Hinds has finally been confirmed after the elusive disciplinary report from the WICB finally arrived here this week.
Some mystery had surrounded the whereabouts of the report arising from the ill-tempered Carib Beer Challenge final between Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago last February, but it has been confirmed that the Barbados Cricket Association office received the document on Tuesday.
Tony Marshall, the BCA president, confirmed that Hinds had been banned for two matches, and had also been fined 40 per cent of his match fee and said the local association would now give 'serious consideration' to the report.
"The West Indies Board has accepted the decision of the match referee which he is entitled to make," Marshall said. "The decision is that Hinds has been banned for [the first] two first class matches of the next regional season."
