KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC- Former West Indies cricketer Xavier Marshall is protesting his exclusion from a 44-man Jamaica trial squad preparing for the new regional season starting later this month.
Marshall was not named in the 44-man squad in training for the regional Super50 and Four-day tournaments.
“I can’t believe what has taken place,” said Marshall, who has played seven test matches, 24 ODIs and six T20s for the West Indies.
“Up to now no one has said anything to me, as all I have been hearing is things in the news. I really don’t know what is happening”. Marshall, who has a regional first-class average of 23.67 from 34 matches, represented Jamaica last season in one first-class and two Super50 games.
In the first-class fixture away to Barbados, the usually flamboyant opener made zero and six and scored a duck against Trinidad and Tobago in the Super50 before he was dropped for the rest of the season.
“I believe it’s unfair the way they have treated me,” Marshall complained.
“All I ever wanted them to do is to give me a full four-day season to prove myself. They have never done that. It’s like once I fail one or two times in a season, that is it”. Marshall, who has had a chequered career since making his regional debut at age 17, has vowed to fightback.
“It is not the first time this is happening to me,” he said. “It is about the third or fourth time. However, on each occasion I have been able to overcome, and this is no different. I am a fighter”.
The first of five scheduled Super50 trial matches was set to get under way on yesterday at Sabina Park following which a 14-member squad will be named for the tournament.
