BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):THE WEST Indies Cricket Board (WICB) yesterday announced retainer contracts for seven players including captain Brian Lara, but have excluded exciting all-rounder Dwayne Bravo from the list.
Lara, along with vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards and Denesh Ramdin were identified as the players who would be issued the historic contracts.
Bravo, however, has been excluded because he currently holds a personal endorsement contract with Cable and Wireless (C&W). The WICB said it would announce the name of an eighth player shortly who would be issued with the last retainer contract.
"Dwayne Bravo was also considered for inclusion, but it was decided that it would be inappropriate to offer a retainer contract to Mr. Bravo, in view of the recent personal endorsement contract that he has entered into with the principal competitor of Digicel, WICB's major sponsor," a release from the regional board said.
"This will not preclude Mr. Bravo from selection on the West Indies team which can be on the basis of a match tour contract."
INELIGIBLE FOR SELECTION
The 22-year old Bravo reportedly signed a contract with C&W recently which the WICB does not consider to be pre-existing even though the retainer contracts were yet to be issued.
Bravo, currently representing Kent in the English County Championships, was one of six players deemed ineligible for selection during the bitter sponsorship dispute between C&W and Digicel last year.
Yesterday's announcement caps a long-running wrangle between the WICB and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) over the issue of retainer contracts for players.
While the WICB announced it would institute retainer contracts earlier this year, WIPA claimed recently that the board had been dragging its feet on the issue. The situation threatened to disrupt the recent tour of India as rumours surfaced of a possible strike ahead of the third Test at Warner Park in St. Kitts last month.
