Players' association hopes for better sense to prevail at WICB

St John's, June 21 (UNI) After issuing an ultimatum to the board to settle matters relating to the players' contract a day before the third Test against India, the West Indies Players' Association is hoping that good sense will prevail in the WICB and they can avoid an imbroglio.

WIPA President Dinanath Ramnarine told ''Trinidad and Tobago Express'' that he was upset at the lukewarm response from the West Indies Cricket Board but still had hopes for a final solution to the vexed issue.

''I'm disappointed. I thought we had gone past this stage but it seems the Board is not prepared to move forward. But we are going to hope that good sense prevails and that we can finally meet with them for the purpose of securing a final resolution on this issue,'' Ramnarine said.

Earlier, the WIPA chief had expressed his anguish over the board's dilly-dallying on providing retainers' contracts.

''We have been writing and calling day after day. We want to sort out this matter by Wednesday, otherwise we would have to look at our options. They can't continue to take the players for granted. We have shown good faith and goodwill, but we cannot continue to do it forever,'' he told The Nation newspaper.

Ramnarine rued that the players even did not have a match tour contract.

''The worst case scenario is we should have, at least, had match tour contracts. If someone gets injured, how are we gonna be dealing with that? ''We have given the Board dates to meet because we want to resolve this issue without making it another public battle again because the public is totally fed up of this situation. So hopefully as I said, good sense prevails,'' he added.

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