It is not often easy to agree with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), prone as its members are to action such as last month's failure to get a replacement in England in time for warm-up matches ahead of the one-day internationals.

That was one of the few times we had to accept the harrumphing of limited-overs captain Chris Gayle, who criticised the board for its blunder and its initial attempt to overturn the decision of the selectors on his appointment.

But such occasions notwithstanding, the players, in their relationship with the WICB, tend not to endear themselves to West Indian cricket fans. They usually come across as too self-absorbed, prideless and greedy, people who care little about performance and much about pay. The negative attitude of the fans is worse when the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) comes into play, and more so, we expect, when Dinanath Ramnarine opens his mouth.

And Mr. Ramnarine opened his mouth again recently, reminding us about much of what is bad in West Indies cricket. He is not an insubstantial part of it.

Mr. Ramnarine used to play cricket and was a relatively decent leg-spinner at the regional level, playing for Trinidad and Tobago. Unfortunately, for the West Indies, his talent did not manifest itself at the level of Tests we now wonder whether the issue was talent or temperament.

Whatever the reasons why he never quite made the grade as a Test player, Mr. Ramnarine has transformed himself into a trade union leader, as the CEO of WIPA, negotiating on behalf of the players. His is a trade unionism of the old order; one encrusted, in our view, in an archaic confrontationalism rather than an attempt to build partnership and trust. Which is largely the point that has been made by Ken Gordon, the WICB president, in relation to Mr. Ramnarine's latest salvo.

We agree that it would be unfortunate for Bruce Aanensen, the CEO of the WICB to, if he indeed did it publicly, to have spoken the truth about the incompetence of the West Indies players during the Test series in England. In fact, they were shamefully shameless, except for Shivnarine Chanderpaul, in their supine capitulation to the English. The only redeeming feature this time, they were not baying for money before or during the tour.

Mr. Ramnarine had declared how offended he was about Mr. Aanensen's alleged statement and his lack of an apology and wants the WICB chief dismissed forthwith. WIPA, he suggests, will not be in a position, in the future, to 'engage' Mr. Aanensen.

Mr. Gordon, happily, is not being dictated to by Mr. Ramnarine over who the WICB should have as its CEO. But Mr. Gordon raised a far more profound point, to which we have spoken in the past; that is, it is the wont of Mr. Ramnarine to blame "everyone but himself" for complications in communications between WIPA and the WICB when he was "frequently abusive" in his dealings with the board.

We have a bit of advice for Mr. Ramnarine and a bit too for Mr Aanensen. The advice Mr. Ramnarine offered to the board about Mr Aanensen should be offered to WIPA about himself. And Mr. Aanensen shouldn't speak the truth about the West Indies in public.