Who is Marlon Samuels? All you need to know about former West Indies all-rounder who has been banned for 6 years due to match-fixing

Marlon Samuels was part of both West Indies' teams which won the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in 2012 and 2016.

Marlon Samuels, the former West Indies cricketer, has been banned by ICC from all cricketing activities for six years after he was found guilty of breaching the anti-corruption code.

Samuels was charged by the ICC (in its capacity as the Designated Anti-Corruption Official under the ECB Code) in September 2021. He had been found guilty by Tribunal in August this year. The ban came into effect from November 11, 2023.

“Samuels played international cricket for close to two decades, during which he participated in numerous anti-corruption sessions and knew exactly what his obligations were under the Anti-Corruption Codes. Though he is retired now, Samuels was a participant when the offenses were committed. The ban of six years will be a strong deterrent to any participant who intends to break the rules,” said Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager, HR and Integrity Unit.

There were four charges brought against Marlon Samuels and he was found guilty on all four of them by unanimous decision.

This is not the first time Samuels has been banned for match-fixing in his career, the last time it happened was in 2008. Let’s have a look at the career and life of Marlon Samuels.

All you need to know about Marlon Samuels

Marlon Samuels was born on February 5, 1981, in Kingston Jamaica. He was right-handed batter and was also a handy off-spinner but with a dodgy action. His elder brother Robert also played test and ODI cricket for West Indies in 1996-97.

Marlon Samuel’s made his debut in 2000 against Australia and his ODI debut also came in the same year against Sri Lanka. The all-rounder made his T20I debut in 2007 against England. He went on to play 71 tests, 204 ODIs, and 67 T20Is for West Indies from 2000-2018.

He scored 3917 runs in tests with 7 centuries and a best score of 260. In ODIs, he made 5536 runs with 10 centuries and a best of 133*. In T20Is, Samuels made 1611 runs with a best of 89*. He was also part of both West Indies squads which won the T20 World Cups in 2012 and 2016 and he played a huge role in the finals of both the tournaments.

In 2008, Marlon Samuels was banned for two years after Indian police accused him of giving team information to a known bookie before the 1st ODI between West Indies and India in Nagpur on 21 January 2007. After investigation, Samuels was banned from all the formats for two years for receiving money, or benefit or another reward that could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute.

Samuels’ career was full of controversies which shadowed his brilliance with the bat on the field. He famously had a scuffle with Shane Warne during a Big Bash League match in 2012 and had a feud with England’s Ben Stokes, which began in 2015.

Then in 2021, Samuels was charged with breaching ICC's anti-corruption code in a T10 league, investigations of which have now resulted in him being banned for six years form all the formats of the game.