DUBAI, May 13: West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels has been banned for two years after being found guilty of breaking rules designed to stop players betting on matches.

The International Cricket Council on Tuesday enforced a mandatory ban on the 27-year-old backdated from 9 May.

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) said Samuels had “received money, benefit or other reward which could bring him or the game into disrepute”.

Samuels denied giving out any information to a bookmaker.

But the ICC’s acting chief executive David Richardson said: “We hope the case serves as a reminder to players and officials to remain vigilant.

“It is never pleasant when a player is banned, but the process in arriving at this point has been an extremely thorough one.”

The West Indies committee looked into charges that the Jamaican had passed on team information to a bookmaker during a one-day series in India in January 2007.

Samuels was allowed to play in the World Cup while investigations continued.

A second charge that Samuels had “directly or indirectly... engaged in conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game” was dismissed.

The committee had said they would prefer for Samuels not to face a ban, recommending a suspended sentence on account of Samuels’ good behaviour.

But the ICC decided to enforce the suspension with Richardson adding, “corruption is a serious matter”.

Separately, the player was suspended from bowling in January after independent analysis of his action revealed his off-break and faster deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under regulations.—Agencies