ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP) - Top West Indies players will attend a training camp in Barbados next week following mediation sessions with Grenada's prime minister on a contract dispute, officials said yesterday. The dispute has jeopardised an upcoming tour of Australia, and it wasn't immediately clear how close the players and the West Indies Cricket Board had come to settling their differences entirely. But Prime Minister Keith Mitchell of Grenada said the players would be attending the training camp next week. The talks started earlier yesterday with Mitchell, chairman of the Caribbean Community, at first meeting separately with the board and the West Indies Players Association. "We are hoping to offer views on how to proceed and do so without compromising the positions of both parties," Mitchell said. Barbados Sports Minister Reginald Farley, sent in place of Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, was also mediating. "We are hopeful for a resolution," said Kusha Haracksingh, a legal consultant for the players association. Later, Haracksingh confirmed players would be attending the camp due to start Monday in Barbados. The board ruled ineligible captain Brian Lara and 15 other players this week for not signing contracts to join a training camp in preparation for a one-day tournament with Australia and Pakistan in January. Nine of the 25 invitees did accept the invitation to the camp. The cricket board said it would replace the 16 players it ditched, many of whom helped the West Indies win the Champions Trophy in England in September. But West Indies Players Association president Dinanath Ramnarine has advised all West Indies players from the Under-19 level and up not to sign any contract it has not fully negotiated. Cricket Australia said it might consider an alternative team if a substandard West Indies team was chosen to tour. The dispute involves as many as 10 senior players, including Lara, who have sponsorship deals with Cable and Wireless, a telecommunications rival of Digicel, which signed a multimillion dollar sponsorship deal with the cricket board last month. The cricket board has said players are barred from endorsing a competitor of a WICB major sponsor without written consent from the board. Ramnarine insists players risk losing their image rights to the cricket board if they sign the contract. Reprinted from Jamaicaobserver.com