Peace At Last In The West Indies As WICB And WIPA Finally Reach Agreement

After a lengthy, often bitter, period of dispute then mediation the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) have reached a resolution over the structure of payments to its international players.

During a formal mediation session that ran for five days in Barbados before the start of Australia's recent short Test tour of the Caribbean, an agreement was reached on the quantity of sponsorship received by the WICB to be passed on to its international players.

The new arrangements, including the player payment schedule, were also discussed with the West Indies cricketers.

"During May, the WICB and WIPA participated, by mutual consent, in a formal mediation process over a period of five days to consider the question of what level of sponsorship funds received by the WICB should international players receive and how that amount should be distributed," a joint statement said.

The pay dispute led to the West Indies cricketers cutting short their tour of India last October in controversial circumstances and forcing the Indian cricket Board to file a compensation claim of nearly $42 million dollars against the West Indies Cricket Board.

Captain Dwayne Bravo said that the tour had ended and all-rounder Darren Sammy later tweeted:  "Honey I'm coming home."

A clear schedule of payments to players has been drawn-up and minor amendments have been made to the memorandum of the Understanding (MOU) and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

"In addition to resolving this issue, the WICB and WIPA were able to reach a greater and more consistent understanding of the MOU and CBA by clarifying the underlying agreed principles of player payments for a period of four years," the statement concluded.

The outcome was achieved with the assistance of an independent panel that included representatives of the International Cricket Council, the World governing body for the sport, and the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, the global organization that coordinates the activities of all the players' associations that represent professional cricketers.