ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP) - Grenada's prime minister Dr Keith Mitchell deplored the West Indies Cricket Board's decision to bar seven star players from an upcoming Test because of a sponsorship dispute, saying it could threaten the future of the sport in the Caribbean. Prime Minister Keith Mitchell said WICB officials should have heeded the recommendation of the regional cricket subcommittee he heads and explored alternative sponsorship arrangements. "In the interest of the 2007 Cricket World Cup and West Indies cricket... nothing should be done to send the wrong message about the importance of cricket and the World Cup to the regional economy and the way of life of our people," Mitchell said Sunday. On Saturday, the WICB said captain Brian Lara had been excluded from the selection after he had agreed to play in the Test against South Africa, which starts March 31 in Guyana, only if the six others were allowed to. The seven were initially deemed ineligible for selection because of their endorsement contracts with British-based telecommunications giant Cable & Wireless, a competitor of the WICB's official sponsor, Irish-owned Digicel. While the other players - Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Ravi Rampaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Smith - were prohibited from playing, the board last week lifted the ban on Lara. West Indies Players Association president Dinanath Ramnarine on Sunday warned the WICB that players may take tougher actions if the board did not reconsider, though he was vague about what those steps might be. The exclusion of the 35 year-old Lara is the latest setback for the West Indies, which has dropped to third-to-last in the International Cricket Council rankings, above only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. The West Indies team has struggled to climb back to the dominant position it held in world cricket during the 1980s. In Lara's 40 Tests as captain, the West Indies' record is 10-23-7. Lara has scored 26 Test centuries, a West Indies record he shares with Sir Garfield Sobers. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 30, will replace Lara as captain, the board said. The left-handed batsman is a veteran of 80 Tests in a career that started in 1994. The other players chosen were Courtney Browne, Pedro Collins, Corey Collymore, Narsingh Deonarine, Daren Ganga, Ryan Hinds, Wavell Hinds, Reon King, Donovan Pagon, Darren Powell, Devon Smith, Jerome Taylor and Dwight Washington. Reprinted from jamaicaobserver.com