Gloucestershire have withdraw the offer of a new two-year contract to Courtney Walsh starting a war of words between the two parties.

Walsh said he was 'absolutely amazed' and 'very disappointed' when he was told in South Africa where he is on tour with the struggling West Indies team. He feels that he still has at least two more seasons in him and he is possibly playing the best cricket of his life.

Indicating that he may wish to play for another county he said that the two seasons would be 'regrettably not with Gloucestershire'.

Gloucestershire defended the announcement by saying that they had written letters to Walsh asking him to assure the club that if he was not involved in the World Cup, he would sign. He did not respond to these letters. Walsh was also involved in talks with other counties.

The decision by Gloucestershire ends a fourteen year association with the player who is now 36. He took 106 first-class wickets in the 1998 season helping Gloucestershire to challenge for the Championship.

The main reason for the withdrawal of the contract is that Gloucestershire would prefer an all-rounder as an overseas player as Mark Alleyne may be involved in the World Cup and would have to miss much of the season. The batting struggled in 1998 as it is but without Alleyne, scoring runs could be a problem.

Gloucestershire insisted that Walsh would not take part in the World Cup and it is likely that he would have been selected. The county also ran out of patience as they found it difficult to make a deal with Walsh.

The favourite to take Walsh's place is Australian Shaun Young. The 28 year-old scored 980 runs and took 30 wickets for Gloucestershire in 1997.