The impasse over fees and conditions threatens the imminent tour of South Africa and the very structure of West Indies cricket itself.
While nine of the players picked for the tour, including captain Brian Lara and vice-captain Carl Hooper, remained in the Excelsior Hotel at London's Heathrow Airport instead of heading for Johannesburg as planned, the WICB was going ahead with a previously announced full meeting at its headquarters in Antigua this morning to discuss the matter.
The WICB had asked Lara and Hooper to attend the meeting, to which the Players' Association responded with an invitation for the WICB to come to London to meet with its president, Courtney Walsh, vice-president Lara, treasurer Jimmy Adams, and Hooper. Both sides refused the other's suggestion.
Chief executive David Holford said last night he and secretary Roland Holder, the Barbados and West Indies batsman, would fly to Antigua today to represent the WIPA at the meeting.
The WICB said in a Press statement Monday night that Lara and Hooper had disregarded the instructions from team manager Clive Lloyd to head to South Africa as scheduled. Instead, they flew into London yesterday from Dhaka, where the West Indies completed the Wills International Cup on Sunday.
They were joined by Walsh, Adams, Curtly Ambrose, Darren Ganga, Junior Murray, Dinanath Ramnarine and Franklyn Rose, who were not on the team in Dhaka and were scheduled to stop in London on the way to Johannesburg.
The remaining players in Dhaka – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mervin Dillon, Ridley Jacobs, Clayton Lambert, Nixon McLean, Philo Wallace and Stuart Williams – all reportedly left with Lloyd and coach Malcolm Marshall for South Africa yesterday.
In a Press statement, Holford said the board had accepted its terms over fees. But he added that ``there are issues surrounding the agreement with which the Players' Association is not in agreement''.
He called Press reports that Lara and Hooper had abandoned the tour ``unfounded and untrue'', and said the players ``wish to reaffirm their total commitment to West Indies' cricket and their eagerness'' to take part in the South African series.
The players for South Africa are reportedly asking for payment above their tour fee for a one-week camp to be held prior to the start of the South African tour on November 10, for increased meal allowances and for the guarantee of security in Johannesburg, where two Pakistani players were mugged while on tour last year.