Players body stand firm on South Africa tour issue

But the West Indies Players Association says its players are still standing firm.

``The players are unified in their position. They have expressed a position of solidarity. Right at this moment we are seeing what options are open to us,'' WIPA secretary Roland Holder said last night.

``The players themselves have the interests of West Indies cricket at heart and have always been and will remain committed to West Indies cricket,'' Holder added.

Holder, along with WIPA CEO David Holford, represented the players at yesterday's emergency meeting in Antigua. And questioned about the events of that meeting, the WIPA secretary said:

``When David Holford and myself arrived in the meeting today, it was very evident that the Board was in no mood for a compromise. They did not accept, or did not seem willing to accept that Brian (Lara) and Carl (Hooper) were acting on behalf of the WIPA. I want to stress that Brian is the vice-president and Carl is the players' rep,''Holder went on. The stand they took, (WICB) they were unwilling to give any guarantees as to what is likely to happen. We tried to come up with a compromise or two.''

Explaining what the proposed compromises were, the WIPA secretary said, ``We indicated to the board that the players were willing to travel to South Africa if two things could be guaranteed,

1. a meeting in South Africa with representatives of the Board and

2. because as we saw it, Lara and Hooper were acting on behalf of WIPA, a guarantee that no disciplinary action would be taken against them.

``The Board was not prepared to agree to any of those demands.''

Asked finally about the future of the tour, Holder repeated, ``Certainly the guys in London are firmly behind the captain and vice-captain.''

But Holder softened his position after a moment, adding, ``Yes, I am fairly certain the tour will continue once we can get these things sorted out.''