No sign of quick end to Windies player strike

The strike by top West Indies cricketers shows little sign of ending with both side's blaming each other on Sunday for the conflict and the Caribbean team at risk of fielding weakened sides in future series.

West Indies are fielding a weakened side in the Test match against Bangladesh, which finishes on Monday, after the 13 selected players boycotted the game due to a conflict with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over contracts and payments.

Captain Chris Gayle and leading batsmen Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are refusing to play until their contractual issues are resolved.

The WICB met in St. Vincent over the weekend and issued a statement of support for the players participating in the Test including a commitment to consider them, rather than the striking players, for the Champions Trophy competition in September.

"The Board said their continued commitment to this group of players, ensures that there will always be a solid pool of approximately 29 contracted players from which to draw for the Board's future tour commitments.

"The Board said the West Indies team for the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September and October 2009, will be selected from the current squad participating in the series against Bangladesh and other players who were also available for this series," the statement read.

The West Indies Players Association (WIPA), the union which negotiates on behalf of the players, met with the WICB last week in Trinidad but refused a demand from the board to end their strike before talks begin.

The result was a 23 minute meeting that failed to address any of the issues the WIPA has highlighted - including the absence of contracts for players in the past four series.

WIPA secretary, former Test batsman Jimmy Adams, said on Sunday the board had to change their way of dealing with players.

"There is nothing that we can do. The players have refused to play without contracts. The Board's approach to signing contracts is to approach you two weeks before a tour and say 'these are the terms', without any discussion," he told the Jamaica Observer.

"We say we are supposed to negotiate the contracts and when you look at certain clauses in the contracts it's unacceptable.

"They don't deal with some of the outstanding issues. They then say they came to WIPA and WIPA didn't agree. That's not how it goes," Adams said.

WICB president Julian Hunte told the regional media outlet CMC that he was determined to end the strike but called on WIPA to change their approach.

"We have been trying to negotiate with WIPA and somehow we can not get them in between series to negotiate," Hunte said.

"Before a series starts there will be a flurry of activity and then they will want to meet to negotiate.

"This is not good industrial relations practice and we are going to put a stop to this.

"This is damaging to West Indies cricket and these problems before tours and during tours must be eliminated."