The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Exclusive: Samuels accuses coach of discrimination

Sat, Jun 9, '07

by RYAN PATRICK

Marlon Samuels

West Indies middle order batsman Marlon Samuels has written to the president of the WICB to complain about discrimination at the hands of the senior team coaching staff.

In a letter to team manager Mike Findlay (copied to WICB president Ken Gordon), Samuels accused former head coach Bennett King and interim coach David Moore of not giving him a fair chance of preparing himself for selection to the senior side.

The Jamaican right-hander said the discrimination started as far back as 2006 in India and Malaysia under Bennett King and only stopped after he complained to manager Clive Lloyd during a team meeting.

More recently, on his arrival in England as the replacement for the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan, Samuels said he was not given any batting practice in the nets until after every other player (including the bowlers) had batted.

"At this time the net bowlers were very tired and unable to bowl properly and you would understand that since I only recently arrived it is important for me to get an equal chance to acclimatize and prepare myself for the test match if given the opportunity," Samuels wrote.

Team manager Mike Findlay declined to comment on the Samuels complaint.

FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER FROM MARLON SAMUELS:

Dear Mr. Findlay,

I am writing to you because I want to bring to your attention a situation which I find myself in and which I feel is affecting my cricket.

At our first net session since I arrived in England I was told by coach David Moore to start the fielding session then I was asked to bowl in the nets which I happily did.

However I was not given an opportunity to bat until after all the other batsmen and bowlers batted. At this time the net bowlers were very tired and unable to bowl properly and you would understand that since I only recently arrived it is important for me to get an equal chance to acclimatize and prepare myself for the test match if given the opportunity.

I am writing to you because this is not the first time this has happened to me. Under Bennett King, in Malaysia and India in 2006 and I was faced with the same situation. It only changed in India after I complained about it in a team meeting and Mr. Clive Lloyd intervened.

But now it is continuing again under Bennett King’s assistant coach David Moore who has taken over. I feel I am being deliberately set aside and I am not pleased with this since it is happening too often.

I would appreciate if you would kindly address this matter in order to ensure that I am treated with some amount of equality especially since I have been faced with many challenges during my career.

I am forced to write to you also because for too long I have kept quiet on several things, such as this, which have affected me in the past. I think it is important for me to bring this to your attention so that you can address it and help to ensure that there are no distractions.

Marlon Samuels
West Indies