CRICKETER Runako Morton, who died Sunday in a highway crash, wanted to make a comeback and secure a place on the Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies cricket teams. Morton, plagued by disciplinary problems during a 17-year career, was passionate about the game as he was for his family, his wife Leslie-Ann said yesterday.
Runako Morton
She spoke of a man who was regretful about the controversies that led to his fall from grace as a respected batsman, but who wanted to prove he was worthy of the hearts of cricket fans.
“Cricket and his family were his life,” she said. “He was a family guy, always for his kids. He was a hard worker, very determined, especially when it came to his cricket. He started to make a lot of positive changes in his life and we were taking it one day at a time.”
Morton, 33, was killed on Sunday night when the car he was driving slammed into a utility pole near the Chase Village overpass, along the Solomon Hochoy Highway. Yesterday, pathologist Dr Hubert Daisley performed the autopsy on Morton’s body and concluded he bled to death from his injuries. Daisley found the right side of the rib-cage was crushed, and there were extensive lacerations to the internal organs.
Between 2001 to 2011, Morton found himself in trouble with the law and the West Indies Cricket Board.
He was expelled from the West Indies Cricket Academy for regulation breaches, and lied about his grandmother’s death to escape playing in the ICC Champion’s trophy. He was also arrested by police as a suspect in a stabbing incident and last year, he was arrested for possession of marijuana.
His wife said” “After the last incident when they took away his contract he said, ‘Don’t worry my bat will talk’. He didn’t like to do interviews and things like that. But every game he played lately he made 100-plus (runs). His bat was talking again. Yes, definitely he wanted to make a comeback. That was his life.”
She said Morton “was very regretful. He always took full responsibility. He always tried to do better. He was a man that when he was down you will see his best performance on the field. He would always rise to the occasion. He always said he would let his bat speak for him. That his bat would do the talking. That was what he was on his way to do again.”
She said Morton was also an avid footballer, but chose to pursue cricket on a professional level. Born in the island of Nevis, he was among seven Test and One Day International cricketers from Nevis to play for the West Indies team.
Morton and his wife met in 1999, while he was on tour with the Leewards cricket team in Trinidad, and he told her that “it was love at first sight”. During their 11-year marriage they had three children—Kalika, eight; Macario, three; and Demica, 18 months old. The family settled in Princes Town.
Leslie-Ann Morton said she was grateful for the support shown by local and international cricketers.
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