West Indies all-rounder Marlon Samuels has declined a chance to play in the World Cup as a replacement for injured Dwayne Bravo.
The Jamaica batsman, who served a two-year ban from official cricket for links to an Indian bookmaker, said he is not 100 percent ready for one-day cricket, and wanted, instead, to focus on the four-day game on the domestic circuit.
“First of all I want to say thanks to the regional selectors for sitting down and thinking that about selecting me for the World Cup. I am honored to get such a phone call,” Samuels told the Jamaican Gleaner.
“But as I had said in interviews before the start of the tournament, I want to focus on four-day and not one-day cricket, and try to be out there in the sun for hours on top of hours. I am doing that at the money.
I still don’t think I am 100 percent ready and I want to be honest with myself. I hope the selectors understand and request my decision,” he said.
Samuels had been banned by a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) disciplinary committee in 2008 for discussing team information with Mukesh Kochar and later approaching him to pay a hotel bill. He returned to official cricket last May and is now playing for Jamaican in the Regional Four Day Competition, the Caribbean’s first-class domestic tournament.
Samuels played 29 Tests and l07 ODIs over an eight-year span and is keen to return to Tests during the home series against Pakistan and India following the World Cup.
