West Indies players threaten Boycott

West Indies' home series against Bangladesh, due to begin on Thursday with the first Test, has been thrown into chaos following a boycott announced by the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA). A statement from WIPA president Dinanath Ramnarine said the players would boycott the series "with immediate effect" because of a long-running contractual dispute with the home board.

Ramnarine said the decision to pull out of the series came after the latest talks with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) failed to resolve several issues, including retainer contracts. "The players have played their last four tournaments without a contract," Ramnarine said. "They are now being asked to play their fifth consecutive series without a contract, which is highly unacceptable."

"When a player called me last week and asked what was the position with regards to his injury while playing cricket for the West Indies in the just concluded Twenty20 World Cup, my response was that was there was no written contract in place and therefore any action that would have to be taken would have to be taken in that context. Professional sportsmen should not be allowed to play any sport that has such a high risk without the necessary protection."

Emerging reports from the Caribbean say that a second-string West Indian squad has landed in St Vincent, where the first Test is scheduled to start tomorrow. When contacted, Ramnarine said he hadn't heard the reactions from the WICB and could not comment at this stage. Tony Howard, the WICB's cricket operations officer, also told Cricinfo he had not heard of such any move, but that a statement would be released on the status of the series.

WICB president Julian Hunte, however, was confident the series would go ahead as planned. "As far as we are concerned [there] will be a Test match on Thursday," he told Reuters.

Rabeed Imam, the Bangladesh Cricket Board's media manager, told Cricinfo that as far as they were concerned this was an internal issue of the WICB and their players and that Bangladesh were focused on the match tomorrow and had been training accordingly.

This is not the first time in recent memory that the players and WICB have been involved in a stand-off. Earlier this year West Indies' spring tour of England was nearly severely undermined after it emerged five senior players had threatened to withdraw from the series to play in the IPL. That crisis was averted, only for more talk of a boycott of the fifth and final ODI between West Indies and England after Chris Gayle indicated his team may not take the field if outstanding issues with the WICB remained unresolved. That too was averted.

A similar dispute arose in 2008 prior to Australia's tour of the West Indies. Several senior West Indian players considered withdrawing from the first two Tests of the series to remain in the IPL, but returned after the WICB allowed them to skip a pre-series training camp.

The last time West Indies players actually took action, ten players - including then captain Brian Lara - boycotted the 2005 tour of Sri Lanka against a background of unprecedented controversy and confusion. A bitter, protracted row between the WICB and the players' association over sponsorship led to the late withdrawal of ten of the original squad of 13, including Lara, Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan. Replacement players were called up for the Test series, which West Indies ended up losing 2-0.