The West Indies are due to play the first match of their South African tour in Soweto today, after arriving in Johannesburg with an apology for delaying the start of the tour.

Brian Lara, reinstated as captain after his sacking last Wednesday, said: ``We are sorry if we caused offence and we apologise to the people of South Africa for the delay.

``These things happen in sport. We hope that people will understand the situation. No one wants to start a tour that's supposed to start on the 2nd or 3rd of November, to start on the 10th of November, and I think all the parties regret that situation.''

Their arrival signalled the end of six days of disruption, culminating in two days of discussion between the West Indies Players' Association and the West Indies board at a hotel near Heathrow.

Barrie Gill, one of the negotiators attempting to bring West Indies cricket on to a more ``professional'' level during a fraught, un- predictable weekend, said: ``There was a lack of understanding, and the players have gone, but if promises that were made at that meeting aren't kept, this was only the first skirmish, in my opinion.

``The board must realise the players have gone with a genuine wish to help West Indies cricket, and the board must now play their part.''

Gill, of CSS International, the London-based event marketing firm, became involved last Friday and helped to assemble a 12-point plan of promises from the board, including more open accountability, better playing fee structures, comprehensive insurance and, generally, a more professional attitude.

Gill said that Lara had called him, asking him to try to resolve the crisis that had threatened the tour, requesting the presence of a lawyer and a mediator.

Gill said: ``We look after Team England, the England football team, and we're used to representing players in dealing with an official body. At 3.50 pm on Friday we had to find lawyers prepared to come to a meeting. To their credit, Richard Verrow and Alan Burdon-Cooper, of Collyer Bristow, came straight round to my office and we all jumped into a cab and headed off for the Excelsior Hotel, where we sat for five hours in bedroom 4912, Brian Lara's.

``We just asked the players to explain patiently what they were upset about. They just felt that West Indies cricket was going nowhere, that West Indies cricket had not kept up with the professionalism of the other leading cricket nations.

``They had now formed a player's association and they realised the board had no money, but none of them had signed a contract for South Africa. They wanted to look at insurance, retainers, communication - they'd like someone on the executive board - and they just went through a whole list of things they thought would improve the lot of not themselves but future cricketers, to get the act together for the future.

``They kept saying again and again 'We've got to get things right for the future of West Indies cricket' because a lot of money was lost when the England Test in Jamaica was cancelled because of the pitch, and the board don't get the sort of sponsorship other countries get.''

A confidentiality clause, covering all the negotiators, prevented Gill from disclosing details of the talks with the board, which lasted almost two days. The first day's meeting at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel did not break up until 4 am on Monday morning.

Gill said: ``We talked and talked and couldn't get anywhere. There was intransigence and a total failure to understand what the players really wanted. This was not a case of employees on strike, these were professional sportsmen wanting to raise standards of their game, obviously their pay, security and plans for the future. The players believed that never again would they all be together with such unity, where they could sit down and plan everything as a unit. They were 100 per cent behind Lara and Carl Hooper.''