The fateful chain of events which led to Marlon Samuels' two-year expulsion from cricket this week begun more than six years ago when the fallen West Indian Test star was just 21 years old.
As outlined in the release of the West Indies Cricket Board's Disciplinary Committee's report on Saturday, Samuels first befriended Indian gambler Mukesh Kochhar in early 2002 in Sharjah when the West Indian batsman was nursing a knee injury.
Samuels had complained about the food at the team hotel during their discussion with Kochhar, organising a friend who ran a local restaurant to deliver the player food at his request.
From that humble beginning, the pair's relationship developed, largely via phone.
Samuels said he viewed Kochhar as a father figure or mentor.
But that relationship has now likely cost Samuels two years of his once-promising career, with the now 27-year-old found guilty by the WICB committee of divulging team information to Kochhar in a phone conversation in January 2007 which was tapped by Indian police during a one-day series.
According to the report, Kochhar - who admitted to betting heavily on cricket but denied being a bookmaker - paid for a hotel room for Samuels following the series, with the batsman unable to produce proof that he repaid the loan.
The report has already been forwarded to the International Cricket Council, who will make final judgement on the ban.
The violation carries a minimum two-year ban, but the committee and WICB have asked for leniency from the ICC, recommending Samuels serve only a two-year suspended sentence.
The committee has also asked the ICC to re-visit their code of conduct relating to punishments in cases such as Samuels.
Samuels has been described as being "naive" in his dealings with Kochhar, but the report claimed he along with other cricketers from the West Indies were present at an anti-corruption training, awareness and education seminar in 2005.
The report also detailed how Kochhar, an Indian national living in Dubai, came to pay for Samuels' hotel in 2007.
Samuels and skipper Chris Gayle had both organised to be part of a television production in Mumbai following the West Indies tour, but when that fell through they were left to pay their own hotel bill and expenses.
Gayle paid his bill with a credit card, but Samuels' card was declined after spending the morning shopping.
He called Kochhar from the hotel lobby, who arranged to pay the bill of $US1,238. ($A1,320).
Samuels claimed he had every intention of repaying the money, but shortly after arriving back in Jamaica, he was required to take part in the West Indies' World Cup Training camp and then shortly after that, news of Samuel's tapped conversation was revealed in the press.
Rather than leave their player out in the cold, both the WICB and West Indies Players Association have said they will help the tainted cricketer as he tries to piece his life back together.
West Indies players and management were also briefed on the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Policy during their week long camp in Antigua this week ahead of their three-Test series against Australia starting Thursday.
In addition to Samuels' suspension, the West Indies have been dealt another critical blow just days out from the first Test against Australia with skipper Chris Gayle ruled out through injury.
Gayle suffered a groin injury a month ago in the final game of the West Indies' one-day series against Sri Lanka.
The loss of the opening batsman and skipper compounded further on Saturday with news fellow opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, who made his debut against Sri Lanka in April, has also been ruled out with a shoulder problem.
Ramnaresh Sarwan will take over the captaincy, with all-rounder Dwayne Bravo the new vice-captain.
Sarwan captained the Windies twice last year against England.
After a week-long camp in Antigua, the West Indies on Saturday named a 14-man Test squad including opener Brenton Parchment, who scored 25 for Jamaica XI against Australia on the first day of their three-day match in Trelawny.
The first Test begins at Sabina Park in Kingston on Thursday.
Squad: Ramnaresh Sarwan (capt), Dwayne Bravo (v-capt), Sulieman Benn, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Ryan Hinds, Amit Jaggernauth, Runako Morton, Darren Sammy, Devon Smith, Brenton Parchment, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor.
