The West Indies board and a delegation of dissenting players held a seven-hour meeting in London to discuss a proposal that had emerged on Friday, but the meeting broke up without any public statements being issued.

Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, said the sponsorship involved a ``good sum of money'', adding that the details of the arrangement and the identity of the company involved would be announced in South Africa today.

Bacher had to endure a long wait in a hotel lounge at Heathrow, jacket off, sipping coffee, with the minutes ticking away towards his Johannesburg flight time, provisionally booked for 9.15 pm. He could feel confident that the three-month tour would go ahead, but not certain. He still had to cancel his flight.

The South Africa team, as with England and Australia, could take sponsorship for granted, but not the West Indies. They were supported by Sandals, the holiday company, during their United Kingdom tour of 1995, with the tourist industry an obvious commercial connection.

The players' tour fee for the forthcoming South Africa tour, as set out by their basic West Indies board contract, was lower than for their Australia tour two years ago. The stand made against these terms by Brian Lara, the captain, and Carl Hooper, his deputy, was interpreted as trouble-making by the board, who sacked them last week, before 100 per cent solidarity from their team-mates inflated this dissent to a full-blown crisis.

Lara had expressed frustration in the past that the game was not financially exploited in the Caribbean. The absence of sponsorship for their demanding South African trip seemed to confirm his opinion.

The late deal on the table last night was brokered by David Richardson, the former South Africa wicketkeeper, through ESPM, his Johannesburg-based marketing company.

Pat Rousseau, president of the West Indies board, flew into Heathrow yesterday for the meeting, accompanied by Chris Dehring, the marketing manager, and Richard de Souza, a board member, with Joel Garner present for a couple of hours. The players' delegation comprised Courtney Walsh, Lara, Hooper and Jimmy Adams. As a condition for agreement, the board would be forced to reinstate Lara and Hooper and the length of the deliberations suggested that face-saving rose to the top of the agenda.

Evidence was very strong that the double sacking was an error of judgment, because it angered the players and would have jeopardised goodwill in South Africa, a country waiting impatiently for the world's most famous player.

Bacher said that the total attendances for the five Test matches were projected at 300,000, a very good figure, and that the seven one-day games were guaranteed sell-outs.

The tour had raised the question of whether the black South African public would support the West Indies against their own country, captained by Hansie Cronje, but Bacher said: ``My impression is that they will support Hansie. Interest in cricket is high. Most people are aware of the great traditions of the game in the West Indies.''

Another aspect of Lara's sacking was the consequence to television, to the South Africa board, who hold the broadcasting rights. One executive said: ``It's quite alarming from the board point of view. We won't put up with anything less than a full strength side. We owe it to our sponsors, viewers and advertisers.''