The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and the Guyanese players prevented a major embarrassment by reaching an agreement to participate in the upcoming Airtel Champions League in South Africa. The GCB and the players were involved in a two-week long battle over terms and conditions outlined in their agreement to participate in the Champions League. There was an issue as far as sharing of the prize money and participation fee were concerned. The players got their representatives, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) to represent them but the GCB failed to negotiate with them. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) also got into the row, when they demanded 33 per cent of the participation fee of US$500,000, saying that they had invested heavily in staging the regional T20 cricket series.
President of the GCB, Chetram Singh said yesterday that a planned meeting of the board's executive carded for Friday night did not come off, as some members were unable to attend. "We had a meeting planned for Friday night to make a final decision as to what we are going to do but we did not have a enough members attending because of other pressing issues. "However, in the interim we met with the players and an agreement over the share of the prize money and other issues have been met and now it is on the way to South Africa." Pressed further as to what they final agreed terms were Singh said: "I would not like to make public the agreement we settled on for more than one reasons but the players have all signed an agreement and we are looking forward now."
The issue with the WIPA and the West Indies Players Management Company (WIPMACOL) Singh said: "There is no further issue with the players association, with the players all coming on board now, that issue will now die a natural death. "On Monday our lawyers will put the matters with WIPA and WIPMACOL to rest and that is that, as far as we are concerned." Singh added that all energies now must be concentrated on getting the team prepared for the world tournament. "This is a big tournament and the team has to prepare well to be competitive. We are happy now, they can get down to business and the GCB intends to provide all that is necessary for the team to have a good preparation leading up to the tournament." The Champions League will be played from September 10�26 in South Africa.