BCCI and players are about to begin negotiations for the Players Contracts.

The players will first meet among themselves to discuss some of the broad concerns they have. Once they have had a chance to do that they will seek a meeting with the BCCI to put forth their reservations. After this is done, the negotiating between the players and the board will begin, as neither side can afford an ugly stand-off. Even after this is done, and both sides agree on the broad terms of the contract, a fresh draft will have to be prepared. Once this is done the players will have to take the contract back to their respective agents and lawyers who will go through the fine print. After this is done, the actual signing can take place.

Firstly, the BCCI's plan to pay the players a flat fee of Rs. 1 lakh (approx US$ 2427) for each match will be a serious bone of contention. With domestic cricketers getting paid Rs. 65,000 per game (approx US$1578), it is felt that the gap between this and what the board proposes to pay the national team per game, is too low.

In the new system that is being proposed by the board this has been further diluted with the BCCI saying that the players' pay would in no way be linked to the top-line of the board. The BCCI contended that they were willing to pay even more than 26%, should the players win more matches.

He said that he would request the Indian board to allow Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Irfan Pathan to train with the Under-17 players at the academy. "These cricketers - some of them are going later to Bangladesh and some of them are not going at all - I am sure they have some time to spare for these youngsters at the NCA," he said during the induction ceremony for a fresh batch of Under-17 trainees.

On April 22, the WICB and WIPA, the players association, failed to agree on the status of the forthcoming tour to England and referred the matter to arbitration.

WIPA believes that the board constantly refused to discuss the matter until the last minute in a deliberate attempt to force players to sign contracts pending the ruling of the arbitrator. This would seem to be supported by evidence that Ken Gordon, the WICB's president, refused to agree to meetings, or even to discuss the matter, for six weeks after board officials had repeatedly indicated that they agreed with WIPA's assessment of the situation.

Every tour since a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two parties last year has gone to arbitration, and in every instance, the players have won.

The cultural presentation, which lasted about 45 minutes, was seen by television audiences for fewer than 15 minutes. Additionally, because of the late start, the extravaganza was viewed by fans at Kensington Oval in relative darkness.

The International Cricket Council has drawn flak from former cricketers Darren Lehmann of Australia and England all rounder Derek Pringle for considering umpires' nationality over their "excellence" in big games like World Cup final.

The duo believe the ICC must move beyond parochialism and mistrust that forced the introduction of "neutral" umpires, who were responsible for the farcical finish to last week's World Cup final.

Local police, along with the Cricket Association of Bengal, have decided not to allow spectators to watch the Indian team train from the stands at their conditioning camp before the tour of Bangladesh. The camp kicks off at the Eden Gardens today.

The authorities want to ensure the camp is incident-free. They are wary of comments being passed by spectators, considering talk about a rift in the team after a disastrous World Cup.