West Indies One Day International (ODI) captain Dwayne Bravo yesterday discounted remarks by teammate Marlon Samuels that he wanted no part of the one-day team's plan to pull out of the tour of India.Yesterday in a letter sent by the T&T allrounder to the media, he expressed his astonishment with remarks made by the Jamaican stroke-maker saying: "I note the comments attributed to Mr Marlon Samuels from media reports and wish to state that Mr Samuels was invited to and did attend the majority of meetings with the players on tour."We extended an invitation to Mr Marlon Samuels with the full knowledge that he is not a member of WIPA (West Indies Players Association) but was an interested party. "Mr Samuels contributed vigorously to the discussions held and indicated clearly, at that time, that he would stand with any decision taken by the team. I am therefore shocked to see the statements, if true, that have been attributed to Mr Samuels."
Clearly contradicting what was said by Samuels, who also revealed he stayed away from most of the players' meetings on the troubled tour.Samuels was quoted as saying in a radio interview on Power 104 FM: "Wavell Hinds cannot negotiate on behalf of me so I know that once I continued (to play), I just needed to finish this tour and then I would have asked questions."Bravo continues to stand by the decision to abandon the India tour after failing to resolve a contract and pay dispute with the players' union, WIPA. The regional one-day team abandoned its scheduled five-match tour last week along with the sole Twenty20 and three-Test match series.
Bravo added: "Much of the reporting on this situation seems to be concentrating primarily on me and not on the fact that the action taken was in concert with all of the members of the squad. Only of late it appears that the action was taken by all but one of the WI squad in India."I wish to state for the record that all correspondence sent and decisions taken were with the full agreement and consent of the players on tour, including the current Test captain Mr Denesh Ramdin and the T20 captain Mr Darren Sammy."It was agreed that someone needed to correspond with WIPA after we were presented with the match/tour contract in India when it became evident that the terms and conditions were very different from what we were accustomed to and expected."The team members met and I, as captain, was nominated and accepted the responsibility to correspond on behalf of the players on tour and I will continue to do so as designated."I want to say on behalf of the players in the squad, while we are grateful for the tremendous support and understanding shown to us by our colleagues, friends and fans around the world and in particular those in the Caribbean and India, we recognise that a few have attempted to put the blame squarely on the players without the full knowledge of the facts."This is regrettable since a few persons are making statements without knowing all the relevant facts. In time we believe all the facts will come to light."
Bravo added: "The players do not wish to make any further statements on this matter since the players on tour (except Mr Samuels) with some additional players who did not tour India have appointed counsel to represent them in this matter."He also said that they were looking forward to a speedy resolution and that all concerns by the players, including the first class players, were addressed in a satisfactory and timely manner.