W. Indies ‘plan for S.A. tour’

Press, 4 September 1982, Page 60

W. Indies ‘plan for S.A. tour’

NZPA London For the last two months 16 black West Indian cricketers have been secretly negotiating a $4.7 million deal to play unofficial test matches in South Africa, according to a “Daily Mail" sports writer, lan Wooldridge. Each man was asking for about $306,800 for four months’ cricket over the next two years, said Wooldridge. In a story dubbed “exclusive.” Wooldridge said that “td their dismay,” the West Indians would learn that their offer had been refused. South African Breweries

(5.A.8.), the South African Government-backed sponsors, decided the asking price -was too high, he claimed. 5.A.8., he said, were also disappointed that three of the West Indies’ most brilliant players — captain Clive Lloyd, batsman Viv Richards and" fast bowler Joel Garner — had refused to join such a tour. ' Wooldridge wrote that he understood that the West Indies Cricket Board of Control (W.1.C.8.C.), who he said “had wind" of what was happening, had ordered all their players to return to the Caribbean.