Samuels out!…No Samuels but 30-year-old Harrison gets maiden call-up

Marlon Samuels

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – West Indies pair Jermaine Blackwood and Jerome Taylor have been included in Jamaica Scorpions’ squad for next month’s Regional Super50 set for Trinidad and Tobago and St Kitts and Nevis but their counterpart Marlon Samuels is a notable absence.

The 14-man squad, which will be captained by 22-year-old left-handed opener John Campbell, also includes the uncapped Jermaine Harrison and Guyanese important Trevon Griffith.

Harrison, a 30-year-old batsman, forced his way into the side with heavy scoring in the recent trial matches, collecting a century and two half-centuries.

The 24-year-old Griffith has also shown good form, striking a century in the third trial match.

Marlon Samuels
Marlon Samuels
Trevon Griffith
Trevon Griffith

Harrison, who plays for the Jamaica Defence Force in the domestic championship, said he was elated by the call up.

“I want to hit the ground running, so once selected in the starting team I want to perform and do well,” he told the Jamaica Observer newspaper.

The Jamaica Cricket Association has given no explanation for Samuels’ absence and it comes only days after the West Indies Cricket Board said it expected all the leading players to make themselves available for the Super50.

Samuels is currently a part of the West Indies squad on the Test tour of Australia.

Scorpions have also opted for Antiguan and former West Indies wicketkeeper, Devon Thomas who played his first game for the franchise in the Regional First Class Championship last week.

Scorpions will do battle in Group B alongside Guyana Jaguars, Windward Islands Volcanoes and Leeward Islands Hurricanes.

The tournament runs from January 7-24.

SQUAD – John Campbell (captain), Trevon Griffith, Jermaine Harrison, Andre McCarthy, Jermaine Blackwood, Tamar Lambert, Brandon King, Devon Thomas, Nikita Miller, Damion Jacobs, Aldaine Thomas, Marquino Mindley, Sheldon Cotterell, Jerome Taylor.