Morton Arrested for Stabbing Cousin
Thu, Jan 8, '04
Runako Morton's haunted world just got a little more troubling.
The 25-year-old Nevisian, one of the most talented batsmen in the region, has been arrested following altercation with a cousin in which the cousin received a stab would to his chest. He spent a day on the bench and was bailed late Wednesday afternoon.
Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA) president Carlisle Powell confirmed the news in an e-mail exchange with CaribbeanCricket.com but no further details on the altercation were made available.
Anguillan psychologist Dr Linda Oluwakemi Banks, who counselled the troubled batsman during his one year ban from West Indies cricket, has scheduled a visit to Nevis to meet with Morton.
The stabbing incident, which comes less than a month after WICB lifted the suspension, is another distressing chapter in the life of the young cricketer.
In 2001, the hard-hitting middle order batsman was expelled from the St. George's Cricket Academy in Grenada for a series of discipline-related transgressions. Morton was late in arriving at the academy and then left the programme without permission, reportedly to visit his wife in Nevis.
Last year, Morton was suspended and fined 10 percent of his tour fee (for the 'A' team trip to the U.K and Canada). He was punished for making up a fake story to quit the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka. On that tour, Morton told the West Indies team management that his grandmother had died. Subsequently, it was learnt that one of Morton's grandmothers died 16 years ago and the other is still alive.
Morton has appeared in two ODIs for the West Indies, against Pakistan in Sharjah in 2002. He has played in 34 first class matches for the Leeward Islands, scoring 1,736 runs (avg. 33.38) with three hundreds and 13 half centuries.
* ALSO SEE: What's Next for Runako Morton?