WICB keeps stars out of Champions Trophy pool

West Indies' leading players may have ended their strike but their board has confirmed that there will be no changes to the weakened 30-man pool it had named for the Champions Trophy earlier in the week.

"The executive committee of the West Indies Cricket Board [WICB] wishes to confirm the initial squad of 30 players announced earlier this month for the ICC's Champions Trophy in South Africa," a board statement said. "This squad was chosen from among those players who declared themselves available for selection for the tournament within the deadline date for finalisation of the 30."

Chris Gayle and the other players who had boycotted the Tests against Bangladesh had made themselves available for international duty on Tuesday, but are yet to be picked by the selectors. Besides being excluded from the Champions Trophy, they were left out of the squad for the first two one-dayers against Bangladesh which starts on Sunday.

The WICB and the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA), which is negotiating on the cricketers' behalf, agreed to resolve their dispute by mediation on Tuesday, after meeting with Guyana president Bharat Jagdeo, who is also chairman of the 15-nation trading bloc Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). Both sides agreed to the appointment of former Commonwealth secretary general Shridath Ramphal as arbitrator.