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Brian
Lara
BY
VINODE MAMCHAN
Cable & Wireless has released, temporarily, its seven
contracted players , paving the way for skipper Brian Lara,
Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle to be considered for selection
for the Second Test of the Digicel series, which starts at
the Queen’s Park Oval on Friday.
The action is regarded as a move to facilitate West Indies
fielding the best team possible against the South Africans.The
teams are engaged in the First Test at Bourda in Guyana without
these players.
Lara is expected to take over the leadership of the team which,
in his absence, is being led by Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
Lara got a late call to join the 22 invited earlier to a camp
in Barbados,after his contract with Cable & Wireless was
cleared by the WICB, but the world record holder declined.
He said,in thanking the board for he invitation, that he felt
the other six players contracted to C&W should also be
called.
The selectors, headed by Joey Carew and including Gordon Greenidge
and Clyde Butts, recommended that Lara continue as captain
of the team which was accepted by the board. Naturally, a
leader had to be named following Lara being unavailable.
It is a distinct possibility that the selectors will propose
Lara as captain again and the final decision would rest with
the board.
The selectors are to be guided by the board as to who are
qualified for selection. This directive is expected today,
following which the selectors will forward their choices for
the second Test tomorrow .
WICB chief executive Roger Brathwaite said the board would
rule on the new development by today.
“We
have passed on communication from their lawyers to our legal
counsel for guidance, and we expect to have back their advice
hopefully later on today” said Brathwaite.
“Once
we get that guidance, the board will then meet, and then we
will make it known what the decision is on that situation
by tomorrow (today).”
Former captain Lara, Sarwan, Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith,
Fidel Edwards, and Ravi Rampaul were ruled ineligible for
the First Test by the board because their endorsement contracts
conflicted with the board’s chief sponsor Digicel, a
telecommunications rival of Cable & Wireless.
Their contracts were then sent to Caricom-appointed arbitrator
Justice Adrian Saunders for a determination
Saunders was inspecting the seven players’ contracts
to rule on their validity by Monday.
Cable & Wireless senior vice president of corporate marketing,
Rachelle Franklin said after temporarily releasing the players
:
“Should
Justice Saunders confirm our position that the contracts are
indeed in the nature of individual endorsements and do not
infringe on the rights of the team sponsor, Cable & Wireless
will immediately be available to work with all parties to
establish acceptable rules of engagement.”
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