 Chanderpaul looks set to captain West Indies |
Seven leading players, including captain Brian Lara, look likely to miss the Test series against South Africa because of a sponsorship wrangle.
The players and the board are in dispute over personal contracts the individuals have with telecoms giant Cable & Wireless which clash with a deal the West Indies Cricket Board has struck with its rival Digicel.
The crisis is the last thing West Indies cricket needs as it attempts to rebuild a competitive side. BBC Sport looks back at the controversy.
December 2003: With negotiations stalling on a renewal of their deal to sponsor Test series in the Caribbean, the WICB advises Cable & Wireless it intends to negotiate with other companies.
2 March 2004: As England begin their tour of the Caribbean, preparing to play the final Test series under the current Cable & Wireless sponsorship, the WICB is in talks to gain a new deal.
As the current agreement calls for C&W to gain right of refusal to match any rival bid, the WICB writes to its current sponsor saying it has received an offer of $23m (�11.9m) over five years to cover not only home series but tours and youth cricket.
C&W turns down a $30m proposal over five years, and at the end of the month offers $20m for a home series deal only.
April, May 2004: C&W signs six players - Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Dwayne Smith, Ravi Rampaul - to individual sponsorship deals similar to that signed by captain Brian Lara in 2003.
5 July 2004: The WICB announces a new deal, covering home series and tours, with Irish-based telecoms company Digicel, worth around �11m.
Chief executive Roger Brathwaite denies there will be any conflict between the deal and the individual contracts.
10 Nov 2004: After several high-profile disputes with the West Indies Players Association (Wipa), another contract wrangle begins ahead of the team's tour to Australia as the players object to the terms of new agreements.
24 Nov 2004: The WICB is forced to meet again to select a new squad for the January one-day series in Australia as players, including influential captain Brian Lara, refuse to sign acceptance forms.
27 Nov 2004: Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchell and Barbados Sports Minister Reginald Farley mediate between the warring parties and the individual players affected are subsequently allowed to attend a training camp ahead of the Australia tour.  |  We all do and say things that we would do and say differently, if we had another chance |
18 Dec 2004: The secretary of Wipa Roland Holder resigns because of the row saying he is unhappy with the "confrontational" style of the union and the way it has handled the whole affair.
23 Dec 2004: The dispute finally seems to be close to resolution as arbiter Keith Mitchell announces a binding agreement drawn up by a judge, with which both sides agree.
14 Jan 2005: The conflict obviously does not help the team's preparation for the VB Series against Australia and Pakistan and they lose the first game to the hosts.
29 Jan 2005: The WICB announces an expected loss in excess of $5m for the coming financial year after two consecutive years of profit
18 Feb 2005: The BBC is told that the bitter argument has placed the WICB �11m sponsorship deal with Digicel in jeopardy as a leaked company memo from the company labels the West Indies players "poor ambassadors". 6 Mar 2005: The WICB announces a 22-man practice squad to prepare for the South Africa series, without any of the seven who have signed C&W deals.
7 Mar 2005: Grenadian PM Keith Mitchell again steps in to try to resolve the row but after seven hours of talks an agreement cannot be reached. However Mitchell says: "We can't say we've had a complete solution but we have made some considerable progress."
12 Mar 2005: A six-point plan is presented by the Caribbean Prime Minister's cricket sub-committee but it is rejected by Digicel, which claims it does not protect their investment in Caribbean cricket. 19 Mar 2005: WICB lawyers scrutinising the contracts signed by the seven determine that only Brian Lara's does not conflict with the board's agreement with Digicel. The board responds by offering a contract to Lara but not the other six.
20 Mar 2005: Lara gives what the board describes as a "non-committal" response to its invitation and is left out of the 14-man squad for the first Test, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul named as captain instead.
MMIX
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