The decision was made after the Technical Committee heard the West Indies Cricket Board’s case presented by Acting Chief Executive Officer, Roger Brathwaite, to allow the gifted, young batsman to rejoin the 15-member squad in South Africa.

Samuels was due to leave Kingston last evening for the World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

“We are pleased with the decision of the CWC 2003 Technical Committee and we are now looking forward to Marlon joining the squad and giving of his best for West Indies in the CWC 2003,” remarked Michael Hall, the Chief Cricket Operations Officer of the WICB.

Samuels arrives in Cape Town tomorrow morning ahead of the CWC 2003 opener, a day/night contest between West Indies and South Africa later in the day.

Ryan Hinds, Samuels’ replacement when he was withdrawn from the squad a fortnight ago, will return to the Caribbean to represent Barbados in the Carib Beer 2003 Cricket Series and is likely to depart South Africa no later than Monday.

World Cup cricket to be on television
WORLD Cup cricket will be broadcast on GTV, starting with the Opening Ceremony today.

The ceremony is scheduled for 14:30 hrs to 16:30 hrs and first match between West Indies and South Africa, a day/night encounter, is Sunday, starting from 08:30 hrs.

GTV will then produce two-hour highlights of each match to be aired from 21:00 hrs each night.

“In the several instances where there is more than one match per day, the more appealing game will be shown live, while highlights of the other game will be shown in the evening,” GTV said.

During the lunch break, Edwin Seeraj will discuss the day’s game and the World Cup in general on the programme Cricket Info and Quiz.