RUNAKO MORTON

Bio

Full name : Runako Shakur Morton

Date of Birth : July 22, 1978, Nevis

Height : 1.78

Major teams : West Indies, Leeward Islands, Nevis,Trinidad & Tobago Position : Batsman

Rep. Honours

Test debut : Sri Lanka v West Indies at Colombo (SSC), Jul 13-16, 2005

ODI debut : Pakistan v West Indies at Sharjah, Feb 15, 2002 T20I debut : New Zealand v West Indies at Auckland, Feb 16, 2006

Profile

Age: 33 | Matches: 120 | Runs: 3642

A batsman who played 15 Tests and 56 ODIs for West Indies, Runako Morton died in a car crash when just 33. His international career with West Indies spanned eight years, but he unable to win a regular place in the side, largely because of the controversies he was embroiled in. His run-ins with authority started early, when he was expelled from the West Indian Academy in July 2001, for a series of regulation breaches. He refused to be bowed, however, and continued to accumulate runs for Leeward Islands in the Busta Cup. In February 2002, he was called into an injury-plagued West Indian squad as a replacement for Marlon Samuels, and was tipped to become one of the few Test cricketers from tiny island of Nevis. But he threw away his opportunity when he pulled out of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2002, after lying about the death of his grandmother. His career slipped further down the pan when he was arrested (though released without charge) in January 2004, following a stabbing incident, but in May 2005, he was given a third chance at redemption when he was recalled to the one-day squad to face South Africa although he didn't get a game. He got his chance later that month against Pakistan at home, and was then picked for the 2005-06 tour to New Zealand, where he proved his worth with a fighting century - his maiden one-day hundred - in a losing cause. He followed it up with another ton, in the away series against Zimbabwe, but soon made it into the record books for his painstaking 31-ball duck in the final of the DLF Cup against Australia in Malaysia. It was the slowest ODI duck, beating Phil Simmons's earlier record that had consumed 23 balls. It certainly got his eye in, however, as Morton made an unbeaten 90 in his next meeting with the Australians, in the Champions Trophy. From that moment on, however, his form fell away, and he was omitted from the West Indian squad for the subsequent World Cup. His in-and-out career continued with a recall for the 2007 England trip and he made runs against Zimbabwe later that year but his form never remained consistent. He had another crack at Test cricket in 2008 and continued to be given chances n the one-day set up up until early 2010. There were flashes of what he could achieve, such as an unbeaten 85 against India, but not enough to earn a sustained run.