Sign of times

AMIDST confusion over the impasse between the players and the International Cricket Council (ICC) over contracts for next month's Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive Gregory Shillingford confirmed last night that not one of the 14 West Indians chosen for the tournament had yet signed.

"We've sent the forms to our representatives in St Lucia and Jamaica (where the players are currently engaged in the Red Stripe Bowl) but none has been signed," Shillingford said.

But Shillingford said it was too early to say whether replacements would have to be picked for the 12-team tournament, the so-called mini World Cup that is scheduled to start September 12.

"The board's position is that we will give the situation a little more time to sort itself out," he said.

Trevor Phillips, president of the St Lucia Cricket Association, who is acting on behalf of the WICB, said he had presented the contracts to the relevant players on the Antigua, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago Bowl teams but none had been returned.

"I handed it first to Merv Dillon and he told me that neither he nor the other players would be signing," Phillips said.

The contracts were distributed to theplayers in Jamaica by Brian Breese,secretary of the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA). But Shillingford said none had been returned.

Dinanath Ramnarine, the Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies leg-spinner, who is the recently elected president of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), is also in St Lucia. All efforts to contact him yesterday proved futile.

WIPA secretary Roland Holder said in Barbados his body had advised the players against signing the contract on the advice of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA).

This is in keeping with the general position of international players upset by the clause preventing them from promoting existing individual sponsors that rival the ICC's official sponsors for the Champions Trophy and next year's World Cup in South Africa.

Conflicting reports

There were conflicting reports yesterday on the latest developments in the impasse.

The Indian Express newspaper reported that the ICC "admitted it had backed down on the controversial agreement" and confirmed that it would be valid only for the Champions' Trophy".

It quoted an unnamed ICC spokesman in London as stating that it had agreed to the Indian board's proposal to limit the agreement to the Sri Lanka tournament instead of all ICC events until the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies as originally envisaged.

"ICC will draw up a fresh agreement for the World Cup in South Africa next year," the spokesman said.

At the same time, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed told reporters in Mumbai, where he was on separate ICC business, that the Indian players "should retract from their stubborn stand for the sake of the game and participate in full strength".

Several leading Indian players, among them Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag, have personal agreements with companies that clash with those which have paid huge sums for the rights to the Champions' Trophy.

No player from any country other than India is immediately affected but those from Australia, England, Pakistan and the West Indies have all stood behind the Indians on a matter of principle.

The Indian selectors yesterday picked 25 players from whom it would name replacements if it comes to that.

In Brisbane, Australian Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive James Sutherland said he was unable to guarantee a full strength team for the Champions' Trophy.

He met with the players and chief executive of the players' association, Tim May, to discuss the issue last night. May is also joint head of FICA.

May said it was impossible to speculate on what the Australian players might decide.

"We haven't put any deadlines on them," he said. "They've got a lot of new information tonight about what we've been negotiating over the last week or so and we want the players to have the appropriate time to consider and digest this information."