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England's wage dispute settled

England's cricketers have ended the wage dispute which had threatened to damage the host team's campaign at the upcoming World Cup.

Less than three weeks before England opens the 1999 World Cup against defending titlist Sri Lanka at Lord's, England skipper Alec Stewart announced yesterday that his 15-man squad had agreed to a compromise with the England Cricket Board.

''All the (players) have now agreed to sign their contracts and we're looking forward to playing in the tournament and to hopefully achieving success,'' Stewart said.

Each member of the squad is expected to earn 45,000 pounds (72,500 dollars) including bonus payments if the England team wins the six-week tournament.

The pay feud started before England departed for pre-World Cup warm-ups at Lahore and Sharjah, where it lost in three of its four games against eventual winner Pakistan and India. The players were given until April 26 to agree to a new deal or risk being fired from the team.

ECB chief executive Tim Lamb said the outstanding points in the contracts had been resolved.

''I'm sure everyone will now want to focus completely on the World Cup and I know the England team will be doing their best,'' he said.

The announcement ends a bad week for cricket in the build-up to the World Cup.

Earlier, Pakistan coach Javed Miandad sent the pre-tournament favourites into turmoil when he announced his sudden resignation.

UNI