Lara and Hooper in tour dispute (4 November 1998)
BRIAN LARA, the captain, and Carl Hooper, the vice-captain, have refused to accompany West Indies on their first official tour of South Africa because they are unhappy about payments to players, according to the West Indies Cricket Board
04-Nov-1998
4 November 1998
Lara and Hooper in tour dispute
By Nelson Clare
BRIAN LARA, the captain, and Carl Hooper, the vice-captain, have
refused to accompany West Indies on their first official tour of
South Africa because they are unhappy about payments to players,
according to the West Indies Cricket Board.
A WICB statement said Lara and Hooper had not travelled as
planned to South Africa from Bangladesh, where West Indies lost
the Wills International Cup final to South Africa on Sunday.
"They've voiced concern over the fees for the tour of South
Africa and have instead gone to England," a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Pat Rousseau, the WICB president, was quoted as saying
the board had reached agreement with the players' representative
body, the West Indies Players' Association, on tour fees.
However, Roland Holder, the WIPA secretary, disputed the board's
assertion that fees had been agreed. He said the two sides were
still negotiating.
Holder said he understood that neither Hooper nor Lara, who
together with the spinner Jimmy Adams have been in London,
planned to pull out of the tour and the association had sought
permission for them to attend an emergency meeting of the WICB
today. "A full statement will be made by the president following
that meeting," the WICB said.
In the meantime, the remainder of the team flew to South Africa,
where they begin their build-up to the five-Test series with a
one-day match against an Oppenheimer XI next Tuesday.
West Indies won their only previous Test at Bridgetown's
Kensington Oval six years ago after South Africa had been
readmitted to international cricket.
Salim Malik has been dropped by Pakistan for the first one-day
match against Australia in Lahore on Friday. He was twice out for
a duck in the final Test against the Australians in Karachi and
Pakistan lost the series 1-0.
Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan spinner, misses the
three-nation Sharjah tournament starting on Friday after
suffering a shoulder injury during the Wills International Cup.
Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)