'I'm very disappointed' - Former WI skipper calls ban unfortunate

Marlon Samuels ... slapped with two-year ban by West Indies Cricket Board. - file

Richie Richardson, a member of the West Indies Cricket Board disciplinary committee, has hit out at the decision to ban Marlon Samuels over his involvement with an Indian bookie.

The former West Indies captain was a member of the disciplinary committee headed by Justice Adrian Saunders, who helped to decide Samuels' fate last weekend.

"I'm very disappointed. I've had sleepless nights after that hearing. I think what happened is unfortunate," Richardson said Thursday.

"Based on what I heard and the evidence I heard at that hearing, it is my opinion that nothing that Marlon Samuels did or was involved with would have warranted him being banned for two years."

The 27-year-old Samuels was slapped with the ban after the committee found him guilty by "majority opinion" of violating the International Cricket Council Rules of Conduct 4 (ix) in that he "received money, benefit or other reward which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute".

According to ICC rules, the violation carried a minimum two-year ban which took effect from May 9, the date of the hearing.

Richardson also sought to dispel the notion that Samuels was involved with an Indian bookmaker, contending that the alleged bookie Mukesh Kochchar was actually Samuels' friend.

Kochchar, Richardson said, had assisted the batsman in paying his hotel bill after he had remained in Mumbai with fellow Jamaican Chris Gayle to take up a job that did not materialise following the Windies 2007 one-day international tour of India last year.

"I think based on the ICC law and based on what happened that law is applicable [but] it is totally unfair and wrong because all Marlon did was that he was in a jam and he called a friend and asked a friend to help him out. He promised to pay the money back," Richardson said.

"When he got back to Jamaica, he called the guy for instructions to pay the money back. The guy said "don't worry you can pay it back whenever you feel like".

"And that's what he's penalised for - for receiving funds that could bring the game into disrepute. Nothing in the evidence led me to believe or anyone believe that the (Indian) guy is a bookie."

He continued: "The guy befriended Marlon when early on in his career he had an injury. He was in Sharjah. He met the guy. He was struggling with the food and stuff like that.

"The guy agreed to take him to somewhere where he could get nice food and stuff like that and they maintained a friendship even though they did not see a lot of each other because obviously Marlon is travelling around the world.

"This guy lives in Dubai. They spoke relatively regularly by telephone. The guy has spoken to Marlon's family. Marlon has sent stuff like Blue Mountain coffee back to him like how any friends will do."

Richardson, who scored 5,949 runs in 86 Tests for the West Indies between 1983 and 1995, said he had also made many friends throughout his career with whom he had remained in contact and had done business with.

"As a cricketer, I've made a lot of friends around the world. A lot of them I'm still in touch with. Some of them I've done business with. I can call a couple," the Antiguan said.

"There's one guy I met in Sharjah. He's now in England. If I went to his sports shop to buy cricket gear, he would not accept my money. That's the kind of friendship I have.

"Now if you have a friend and someone you consider to be a friend and he does you a favour, I cannot understand how that can bring the game of cricket into disrepute."