Precedent is a very powerful legal concept and strong enough to end most conflicts. If you allowed ‘it’ before, you forfeit the right to protest now. Remember this is about contracts. Do not try this with your girlfriends and boyfriends, that’s a crime.

But this conflict among the C&W-seven;, WICB, WIPA, Digicel and all the Caribbean people defies solutions. It defies solution because the participants seem reluctant to enforce or acknowledge precedent.

Dear Mr Braithwaite,
I refer to your letter of invitation dated March 19, 2005, and would like to express my gratitude for your kind invitation which permits me the opportunity, again, to join the West Indies team.

As you are aware, I have devoted my whole life to all aspects of West Indies cricket. It is in these circumstances that I am bound to say that I have found extreme difficulty in formulating an appropriate response to your invitation.

Just 24-hours after the WICB axed Brian Lara and six other players with Cable & Wireless contracts, WIPA said the two statements from the board on March 18 and March 19 were a clear sign that the board was changing the rules from day-to-day to suit its own purposes.

On Friday March 11, 2005, the President of the WICB announced that seven leading cricketers including Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle would not be considered for selection until their private contracts with Cable & Wireless were properly inspected.

I was very unhappy that the WICB failed to uphold Justice Saunders’ correct interpretation of Clause 1K, as well as the seeming influence of the new sponsor on the selection of our team. On the other hand, I was more than a little shocked that Brian Lara was included on that list. After all, Brian Lara has a Personal Endorsement Contract with Cable and Wireless dating from 2003. This contract received the full blessing of the said WICB – with option to renew. Clearly the board knew what was in that contract.

When the squad was finally announced after a 24-hour delay, the WICB announced that Lara had given a "non-committal response" to its invitation to make himself available for the match. "[He] neither accepted nor rejected the invitation," the board said.

Collectively and unwittingly, we as a Caribbean people have been brought into the crucible of a fiery imbroglio. And sadly, our very essence is at stake.

It is sad because in the first place, we should not be here. We should not be here as a regional people. Indeed, the WICB and the WIPA should not be here either. Perhaps just as unwittingly, they have been pitted against one another in an apparent battle to the death.

However, the six other players with C&W; contracts -- Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards and Dwayne Smith -- were all deemed ineligible for selection, the WICB announced Friday. The board said Lara has agreed to respond within 24 hours to a letter of invitation.

"It is clear to WIPA that the ongoing behaviour of the [WICB] during this entire exercise raises serious questions regarding the important issue of cricket administration in the Caribbean which in WIPA’s opinion is best addressed by an open inquiry commissioned by Heads of Caricom Governments," the association said in a media statement.

Lawyers for the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) are currently inspecting contracts between seven players and Cable & Wireless to "ensure that the contracts do not impose on the players any obligations" that would cause the board to breach its sponsorship deal with Digicel.

CaribbeanCricket.com can exclusively reveal one of the player contracts that was received by the WICB's lawyers. The player's name has been deleted along with financial aspects of the contract.

EDITOR'S NOTE: We are looking for an independent contract attorney to volunteer some time to help peruse this document. Please e-mail ryan(at)caribbeancricket.com if you're interested and willing.

When ICC elite umpire Steve Bucknor walks out on to the field in Kolkata, India, on March 16, 2005, he will become the first umpire ever in the history of international cricket to stand in 100 Tests. To call him our own makes West Indians around the region extremely proud. With his trademark lengthy deliberation before quickly lifting the finger, the Jamaican has recently come under scrutiny for some questionable decisions.

Undaunted, Bucknor soldiers on, always striving to learn from his experiences and maintain the high standards for which he has become known.

Over the last week, Cable and Wireless has issued a number of statements relative to issues involving seven West Indies Players, Cable and Wireless itself, and the West Indies Cricket Board.

After careful consideration of those statements, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) would like to make the following points:

Professor Luria, a famous Russian scientist once said that human behaviour is influenced by goals of the future but is also shaped by history and past experiences. He added that not only does the brain create these goals but it also subordinates all of its activities towards achieving them. In crisis situations, our brain chemistry is changed. Thinking often becomes negative and combative and our span of concentration is narrowed and locked in to the immediate. Valuable lessons from the past are then lost and once positive visions of the future become vague and hazy.

"Cable and Wireless did, however, turn down a US$30 million/5-year proposal. The last offer C&W; left on the table with the WICB on March 31, 2004 was a US$20m/5 year proposal for the Home Series only...The WICB instead, awarded all the entitlements, the Home Series, away games and youth programs to Digicel for only US$20m/5 years," the phone company said in a statement.

In the face of increasing pressure from Caricom to select the team on cricketing merit only, the WICB refused to back down. "In the Board's view, the basis of discussion has to be to field the best team in the circumstances and not the best team at all costs," the WICB said in a statement.

In a statement welcoming the recommendations for a truce by Caricom, WIPA said it also expects the WICB to include the seven players with Cable & Wireless contracts.