Ponting wants best WI team to tour

Ricky Ponting has said he would be disappointed if senior West Indies players, including batsman Brian Lara, did not join the team's one-day series tour of Australia in January because of a contract dispute.

"That would be disappointing, yeah. You want to be playing against the best teams you can, all across the world," the Australian captain told a news conference in Adelaide on Thursday.

"All of that is out of our control. Hopefully it is resolved and they will be sending their full-strength team," Ponting added.

"If they're deciding or thinking about not touring here then it's obviously a serious issue."

Lara and several senior team mates look set to miss the triangular series, which also includes Pakistan, starting in Melbourne on January 14.

The dispute centres mainly over official insistence that players cannot without prior approval endorse rival companies to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)'s main sponsor.

Only nine of the 25 squad members invited by the WICB to a three-week pre-tournament camp in Barbados starting next Monday have accepted, the board said on its website.

The nine who accepted have agreed to criteria linked to the invitation, the WICB said. The decision of the other 16 was described as "regrettable".

Players

However, it added: "This does not prevent them from being considered in the future should they merit inclusion."

BEST PLAYERS

The row echoes the dispute which affected the Indian team before last year's World Cup.

Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland released a statement saying the Windies were obligated to tour Australia in January.

"We would hope that the West Indies and their players can resolve their issues," Sutherland said.

"The West Indies have an obligation to tour Australia and our expectation is that we will host them in January," he added.

"Our view also is that international cricket should be about the best playing the best.

"The issue is a matter for the West Indies board and its players to resolve."

Australia's test series against New Zealand concludes with the second and final match in Adelaide starting on Friday, to be followed by a three-match limited overs series against the same opposition.

Pakistan will then arrive in Australia for a three-test series prior to the triangular tournament.