by Our Sports Desk

THE International Cricket Council (ICC) has admitted that it “does not have the power to intervene” in the high-stakes dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The very future of the West Indies national side is up in the air following the squad’s premature abandonment of their three-format tour of India — a momentous decision that led to the BCCI initiating legal action against the WICB and suspending all future tour agreements between the teams.

With the financial fragility of the WICB, particularly compared to the commercial behemoth that is Indian cricket, either a multimillion-pound claim for damages or the loss of revenue from India visits could bury the West Indies.

But as a result of a controversial governance restructure earlier this year — when the boards of India, England and Australia effectively seized executive control — the ICC has no jurisdiction over the future tours programme (FTP).

“The ICC hopes that the matter will be resolved amicably, but clarified that, unless the matter is othacerwise referred to it, it does not have the power to intervene in disputes resulting from a bilateral FTP tour,” it said in a statement, adding that the matter would be discussed at its next meeting on November 10 in Dubai.

West Indies cricketers flew home from India last week in a dispute with both the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) over payments.

The WICB and WIPA signed a new collective bargaining agreement and memorandum of understanding on September 19, which was intended to share out money more equally between cricketers within the West Indies, at the expense of the international squad.

However players’ rep and one-day international captain Dwayne Bravo criticised the deal, claiming that the WIPA had “failed to properly represent the best interest of all the players.”

International players face a 75 per cent cut in payment for Test, one-day and Twenty20 matches.

Bravo has also raised other complaints about the conduct of the WIPA in agreeing the new agreement with the cricket authorities, including a lack of consultation and specialist legal and industrial relations advice.