BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TRINIDAD & TOBAGO (T&T) batsman Runako Morton and Leeward Islands all-rounder Tonito Willet were arrested and charged for possession of marijuana on Friday, March 11.
News coming out of T&T states that Morton and Willet were arrested on Friday night after police stopped a Nissan B-14 motorcar in which they were and found a black plastic bag containing 500 grammes of marijuana.
According to the Trinidad Express, both cricketers were taken to the Morvant Police Station where they were interviewed and charged. Searches of the players’ rooms at the Cascadia Hotel in St. Ann’s were also conducted, but nothing illegal was found.
Both players are members of the opposing teams currently playing in the West Indies Cricket Board Regional Four Day Tournament Round Five match at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. However, according to Omar Khan, T&T Manager, they would take no further part of the game.
“Unfortunately, Runako Morton abandoned the team last night (Friday) against team guidelines and team rules and he left the team hotel at Cascadia and did not return, and when we were leaving the hotel this morning (Saturday) at 8:15 there was still no sign of Morton,” Khan said.
Khan explained that their efforts to contact Morton by phone were futile, but they were later informed by the hotel’s manager that he and Willet were arrested for possession of the illegal drug.
This has been the first time in West Indies domestic cricket that two teams are playing with 10 men each. This decision, Khan said, was made between him and Leeward Islands Manager Percy Daniel.
T&T took first innings points after bowling out Leeward Islands for 211. Willet contributed 25 runs on the opening day and claimed two scalps for 23 runs while Morton was bowled by GC Tonge for seven in T&T’s 230.
At the end of the third day’s play, Leeward Islands were 30 for two with Shane Jeffers and Steve Liburd not out on 12 and six respectively.
Morton, a former Nevis and Leeward Islands batsman, has played 15 Tests, 56 One Day Internationals and seven Twenty/20 (T20) internationals for the West Indies. His most recent international was a T20 against Australia in February 2011.
Over the years, Morton (32) has had a checkered career which included being expelled from the West Indies Academy in 2001. He had pulled out of the 2002 Champions Trophy after lying about his grandmother’s death and, most recently, he was fined 35 percent of his match fee following the Trinidad & Tobago vs. Windward Islands WICB Regional Four-Day match at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.
The 28-year-old Willet, on the other hand, has not earned international honours during his 11-year first class career, and many of his fans had hoped that this year’s tournament would have seen him donning the West Indies colours as an all-rounder.
The two cricketers are scheduled to appear in court tomorrow (Mar. 14).
