By Charmaine Austin, Staff ReporterCLASSY YOUNG Jamaican batsman Marlon Samuels remains in a positive frame of mind as uncertainty continues to hover over his participation in the World Cup in South Africa.
"I haven't changed. I'm still the same down-to-earth person that everyone knows. Love my cricket same way. It's been a challenge dealing with these issues but everything is working out and under control," Samuels said yesterday.
"I haven't lost focus and I'm taking things one day at a time," he said shortly after returning to the island from the United States.
Samuels was dropped from the West Indies' World Cup team late last month because of a recurring knee problem, however recent medical examinations conducted by Drs Ainsworth Allen in New York and Michael Mont in Baltimore have now cleared him to play.
Since that, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) made an application to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) technical committee to have the 22 year-old cricketer reinstated in the West Indies team.
All parties concerned were up to press time last night awaiting an official ICC ruling on whether Samuels can play in the World Cup which starts on February 9.
Both Samuels and his agent John A. Pinnock, with whom The Gleaner spoke yesterday, shied away from questions regarding the possibility of the cricketer going to South Africa to play in the World Cup saying that they would wait on the ICC's decision before making a comment.
"If that were to be the case and we are notified that he is going then we'll give a comment. No timetable has been established and we are waiting with bated breath until we hear from them," Pinnock said.
"There are indications to suggest that the result may be positive but we're not taking that as a confirmation. If they say no then we'll have to live with the decision taken," Pinnock added.
Samuels said his initial reaction to being left out was that of disappointment but he absorbed it and moved on.
"I was very disappointed. I didn't expect to hear it but I thought about it afterwards and moved on. I was prepared to put it behind me so I started thinking positive," he said.
His decision to have a second opinion on the report originally submitted by Dr. Akshai Mansingh, was not a form of defiance but rather for his own peace of mind. Dr. Mansingh is a member of the WICB's medical panel.
Said Samuels: "I had my surgery a year ago and right now I'm feeling better. All I wanted to know was whether or not my knee was getting better or worse. The second opinion was just to see where I am now. This is the fittest I've been in my life so I know it wasn't serious. I even left all my stuff in Antigua knowing I was going back.
"I have never denied the existence of a chronic (left) knee problem that has afflicted me since the age of 13. Indeed the WICB has been working with me and the care of my knee since it assumed the cost of my first surgery six years ago."
Added Pinnock: "Marlon knew all along that he was in good playing condition and he felt that to accept the decision and sit on the side would be unfair to himself, his fans and his country.
"Also we needed to have another opinion because we didn't want to lose complete control of the situation. We wanted to have some say in what was happening to Marlon.
"Marlon was feeling good. He's always been an honest person and to that extent would never put his career in jeopardy."
