Gloucestershire withdrew the contract offer to Courtney Walsh before it was announced that Mark Alleyne was named in the England squad and that it was likely that he would be playing in the World Cup.

The fact that Mark Alleyne would be unavailable was one of the factors mentioned by Gloucestershire when they announced that the offer of a contract had been withdrawn.

The county also said that Courtney Walsh had not responded to letters but that was not true. Three letters were sent and replies were made to two of them with one face to face meeting.

Walsh very much wanted to play for Gloucestershire and this was made clear. He wanted to secure his release from the World Cup squad without endangering his place in the West Indies test side where he recently became the leading West Indies wicket taker and later overtook Ian Botham's total.