Morton arrested after stabbing incident

Runako Morton, the troubled 25-year-old batsman from the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis, has been arrested following an altercation which resulted in his cousin receiving a stab wound to the chest. Morton, who played two one-day internationals against Pakistan at Sharjah in 2002, has a history of disciplinary problems. He spent a day in custody and was bailed late on Wednesday afternoon.

The news was confirmed via email by Carlisle Powell, the president of the Leeward Islands Cricket Association (LICA), but no further details were made available. Morton, who has just completed a one-year ban from West Indian cricket, is expected to receive further counselling from the Anguillan psychologist Dr Linda Oluwakemi Banks, who helped him through his recent problems.

The incident is just the latest distressing chapter in Morton's life. In 2001, he was expelled from the St George's Cricket Academy in Grenada for continued breaches of discipline. He had been late in arriving at the academy, and then left without permission, reportedly to visit his wife in Nevis.

During last year's A team trip to Great Britain and Canada, Morton was suspended and fined 10% of his tour fee, after it transpired that he had left the ICC Champions' Trophy in Sri Lanka under false pretences. He had claimed at the time that his grandmother had just died, but it later emerged that one had been dead for 16 years, and the other was very much alive.