West Indies players want association disbanded

New Delhi: Disgruntled with its Players Association due to an ongoing pay dispute, the West Indian team has sought the Cricket Board's "urgent intervention" to dissolve the body as it no longer had the "authority to speak" on the side's behalf.

The Caribbean side, which is currently playing an ODI series against India here, had threatened to go on strike on the eve of the series due to the new contracts handed to the players, which would have seen their salaries drop by 75 per cent.

West Indies skipper Dwayne Bravo has written to WICB president Dave Cameron, asking for the WIPA to be dissolved as the team felt "hoodwinked" by the manner in which it agreed to the new contracts without consulting the players.

"We write to you to make a conscience appeal to fair play and justice and to seek your urgent intervention in helping to remedy the emerging impasse between ourselves and the West Indies Cricket Board," Bravo wrote in the letter published by 'ESPNCricinfo'.

"It is our view, given the circumstances of the formulation and finalising of this agreement, the WIPA Board needs to do the right thing and resign. We wish to formerly advise you that WIPA has no authority to speak on our behalf. We will advise you of the person or persons entrusted with the responsibility to act on our behalf shortly.

"As you may be aware, we have demonstrated much restraint in this matter in trying to get our former representatives (WIPA) to fix this travesty but unfortunately this has not occurred. We are hopeful that, with your intervention, the matter can be resolved without public or other recourse. In the meantime we will continue to seek advice."

Bravo said that to continue with the series is an "an act of good faith" by his team and should not be seen as acceptance of the new contracts.

"Our decision to play in India was in no way intended to convey an acceptance by the players of the unreasonable terms and conditions put forward to us by WICB nor was it intended as an expression of our acceptance of the purported new Memorandum of Understanding," the letter stated.

"We believe this to be a sensible and reasonable option in the interim, while we negotiate new terms and conditions that have been properly ventilated," he wrote.