GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC):

Long-serving West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) director, Chetram Singh, says it is too late to have the regional team in South Africa replaced, but has remained hopeful the elite players will be available for the tour of Australia in November.

Singh was responding to media reports that the International Cricket Council (ICC) had been pressuring the WICB reinstate its best players for the Champions Trophy, which bowls off next Tuesday.

A report on leading cricket website, Cricinfo, indicated that the world governing body appeared willing to accept a 'revised' line-up if the industrial relations dispute between the WICB and the players was resolved.

not possible

"I don't think that is possible at this late time," said Singh, also the perennial Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) president.

"The players are already there and have been training and working hard and a team cannot be changed at the last minute just like that."

He added that the players in South Africa had already signed contracts. He also pointed out that if replacement players were selected at this time, they would also have to sign contracts.

Singh was speaking after returning from a WICB meeting in Barbados on Tuesday, where the matter was discussed.

Singh pointed out that while the WICB had the mandate to run regional cricket, it was always good to listen to ideas from various stakeholders and added that CARICOM's recommendations should be examined.

"I looked at them (CARICOM's recommendations) and I believe that many of them are workable," he said.

"Some of them look straightforward and I think the stakeholders' conference, which I think is planned for later this year, could be helpful in resolving the issues affecting our cricket."

The longest-serving WICB director made it clear that selectors had been instructed to pick the best possible team coming out of the limited-overs championship, scheduled to bowl off here on October 26.

Against this backdrop, Singh said he hoped Australia would see the return of the marquee players.

"Once the players participate in the regional one-day competition they will be eligible for selection and from what I am hearing, they should all be involved and our best team should be travelling to Australia," he pointed out.

"I am really hopeful things will be sorted out once all involved are truly committed to the process of moving West Indies cricket forward."

Despite CARICOM's intervention, both the WICB and WIPA are yet to return to the bargaining table.