Sport

C&W disputes termination claims

Chris Gayle(Left) and Ramnaresh Sarwan(Right) - file photos

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA, CMC

CABLE AND WIRELESS (C&W) late yesterday said it had not received any communication from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle regarding the reported termination of their private endorsement deals.

A report on Wisden Cricinfo said the termination notice was faxed to the phone company but, in a statement, C&W said it was "working to seperate fact from fiction".

Sanjeev Datadin, the lawyer for the two players, said yesterday in a press conference at the Cara Lodge Hotel that Sarwan and Gayle had terminated their relationship with C&W after they had been unable to get the company to release them from their contracts.

"Ramnaresh Sarwan and Christopher Gayle wish it to be known that they have terminated their relationship with C&W because they have been unable to obtain a release from their obligations which they have with that company, despite every effort made by them and on their behalf," Datadin said in a statement yesterday.

The attorney said the two players had "without success sought a release from C&W from arrangements made between them and C&W before C&W lost the sponsorship of West Indies cricket to a competitor."

Seriously damaged

Datadin said that as a result of the players' relationship with C&W, they "had been made to suffer" and had also lost the opportunity to be considered eligible for selection for the first Test at Bourda and the entire series.

"As a consequence, their careers as cricketers have been seriously damaged," Datadin said. "In order that they may save their careers, they are obliged to take this course."

He continued, "They wish to observe that the conflicts over sponsorships between C&W and Digicel has meant that their careers as cricketers have suffered, and wish to state that they will not consider any form of personal endorsements from either C&W or Digicel for a period of six months."

Datadin also said the players had taken this decision in the interest of West Indies cricket and called on the public to support the players.

Sarwan and Gayle were recently ruled ineligible for selection to the West Indies team because the West Indies Cricket Board ruled that their personal contracts with C&W conflicted with the Digicel team sponsorship.

Five other players including former captain Brian Lara, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Fidel Edwards, also hold personal contracts with C&W.

Lara had been cleared by the Board to play however after his contract with C&W was deemed as "pre-existing."