Rousseau went straight into a meeting with Courtney Walsh, president of the West Indies Players' Association, accompanied by Jimmy Adams and Brian Lara and Carl Hooper - the men Rousseau sacked from the tour over their pay and conditions demands.

The players have insisted that Lara and Hooper, captain and vice-captain, must be reinstated if the tour is to take place.

The first match of the tour is on Tuesday but South African cricket chief Dr Ali Bacher remains confident that it will go ahead.

``All the tickets have been sold. The hospitality boxes bought and the match should go ahead,'' he said.

``I remain optimistic that we will get a solution today once the two parties sit down and talk to each other.

``I am scheduled to leave on the 9.15pm plane tonight. The first prize would be to get the players out tonight, the second prize would have them travelling tomorrow.

``There are four flights leaving Heathrow today so getting the players out to South Africa won't be a problem.

``We want to play the West Indies but we want to beat their best team. That's always been our position.''

Dr Bacher added that the financial implications of a cancelled tour would be catastrophic for South African cricket. ``It would cost us tens of millions of rand,'' he said.