WICB

West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels

KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC):

West Indies stroke-maker Marlon Samuels said he wanted no part of the one-day team's plan to abandon the tour of India, and revealed he stayed away from most of the players' meetings on the troubled tour.

The first player to speak out about the controversial decision taken by the players, the Jamaican said he was focussed all along on completing the tour and then dealing with the contracts and pay issues afterward.

West Indies players abandoned the tour following a bitter wrangle with the Wavell Hinds-led West Indies Players Association over the new terms of the recently negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement, which they have claimed results in a drastic reduction in their earnings.

"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," Samuels said.

"The main thing first was West Indies cricket; that is why I remained focussed throughout everything."

Samuels was the only bright spot on the tour, smashing two superb centuries to finish the series with 254 runs from three innings.