BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said yesterday it did not fear strike action by players, though the contracts dispute with the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) was not likely to be solved before the tour of England bowled off next month.

WIPA are contending that the four-Test, three-match One-Day International tour, scheduled to bowl off on May 12, is not part of the International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme and as such, is subject to separate negotiation.

The matter has been put before Barbados' Chief Justice Sir David Simmons for arbitration, but the WICB says it will proceed with selecting a squad today, with the side scheduled to leave next Tuesday for England.

"As far as we are concerned and our legal people are concerned, it will be illegal for them to strike because the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) says you cannot stop playing, you cannot withhold services once it goes to arbitration," Bruce Aanensen, the WICB's chief executive, told CMC Sports.

"It is in the process of arbitration at the moment and the arbitrators will rule whenever the Chief Justice is ready and until such time we have to go ahead as normal.

Guided by arbitrators ruling

"If the arbitrators rule that it is outside of the FTP ... then we have to be guided by the arbitrators ruling and we have to have those negotiations [with WIPA] and if we have to pay anything more to the players then we are bound by the arbitrators ruling."

He continued: "I have spoken to Mr. Ramnarine (WIPA CEO, Dinanath Ramnarine) about it, he doesn't agree with me, but we are going to proceed with the normal tour contracts that we have with the players and if the arbitrators rule otherwise at the end of the day, the West Indies board is bound by the arbitrators ruling and if there is more money to be paid to the players then we pay it, but we are going ahead with the tour and we are preparing contracts for the players to sign.

"We don't have a date yet from the Chief Justice. All the documents have been submitted to him. He says he needs time to study them and that he doesn't believe there is any way that they can have this arbitration prior to the team leaving on the eighth.

"We are going to select the team tomorrow (today), we are going to announce the team on Wednesday and we are in the process of preparing the contracts for the players to sign and we will see where we go from there, but we believe we are fully within our rights.

Retainer contracts

"We have players also on retainer contracts and as part of those retainer contracts our legal people have confirmed to us that the people who have those retainer contracts cannot refuse to go on tour."

Emphasising that the WICB intended to fulfill their commitments to their English counterparts in ensuring the tour went ahead, Aanensen said in the case players refused to sign match tour contracts, these players would be replaced in the squad.

"If there are any players selected for the tour who do not have retainer contracts, if they refuse to sign the contract, it just means they don't want to go on the tour," Aanensen stressed.

"So then we move to the next set of players until we get a team of 15, that's our position."