ROSEAU – Chairman of West Indies selectors Clyde Butts said the door was still open to Jamaican batsman Marlon Samuels, who recently completed a two-year playing ban.
In an interview here over the weekend, Butts said once the stylish Jamaican batsman returned to competitive cricket, he would be considered for selection to future West Indies squads.
“We all know Marlon Samuels can play cricket,” Butts said.
“Certainly for a man who has been out of cricket for two years, you would allow him to play some cricket, develop his game again and get back into form, and of course he will be available to West Indies then.”
The 29-year-old Samuels was slapped with a ban in 2008 for breaching International Cricket Council rules relating to “receiving money, benefit or other reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute”.
As a result, the right-hander also missed two seasons of regional first-class cricket and the annual One-Day competitions for Jamaica.
He recently returned to action for the national squad, playing in a 50-overs match and two Twenty20 matches against the United States in a three-match series in Florida.
Butts said he expected to see Samuels playing for Jamaica again soon, so an assessment of his game could be made.
“Marlon needs to come out and start playing some cricket [and] we will probably see that in the regional T20 and the One-Day series and who knows,” said the selection chief.
“If Marlon certainly shows that he still has it, I think he will be considered.”
Samuels has played 29 Tests and 107 One-Day Internationals since making his international debut in 2000 against Sri Lanka. (CMC)
