West Indies sack Lara in pay dispute

Brian Lara was sacked as West Indies captain last night following a pay dispute with the national board on the eve of their historic first tour of South Africa.

The vice-captain Carl Hooper, too, was stripped of his position by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). Of the seven others involved, Jimmy Adams, Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose were fined 10 per cent of their tour fee and Franklyn Rose, Junior Murray, Darren Ganga and Dinanath Ramnarine five per cent.

The failure of Lara and Hooper to accompany the party to South Africa had brought matters to a head. Invited to Antigua to discuss the impasse at an emergency board meeting, both declined.

Yesterday the rebel players were holed up in a Heathrow hotel as the controversy rumbled on and the South Africans braced themselves for possible cancellation of the five-Test series.

WICB president Pat Rousseau said further action would be considered if the players did not attend a disciplinary inquiry by the board next Friday in Antigua. "The West Indies Cricket Board is deeply saddened at having to make these decisions," he said. "We will, however, be making every effort to ensure that the tour proceeds smoothly."

In a possible effort to divide the rebel cause, Rousseau added: "We are now advising the players, other than Brian Lara and Carl Hooper, that arrangements will be made for them to travel to South Africa as early as tomorrow night, if possible, to join the rest of the team to begin the tour."

David Holford, chief executive of the Players' Association, said that although a tour fee had been agreed with the board, who had flatly refused to respond to a players' request to meet them in London, "there were some issues surrounding the agreement with which the association is not in agreement".

Lara's rebels claimed that the week's preparations in South Africa before the first match on November 10th should be regarded as a training camp and therefore command an additional fee. They were also demanding higher meal allowances and greater security; two Pakistan players, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mohammad Akram, were mugged in Johannesburg earlier this year, although their version of the event was not universally believed.

Ali Bacher, managing director of the South African board, said it was "a very serious decision by the West Indian board and we support them 100 per cent. It is a decision which shows that no individual is greater than the game".