Elvin James scoffed at suggestions that Charlie Marshall was brought in as captain of Bermuda's Red Stripe team in a desperation move by the Bermuda Cricket Board of Control.

There were claims that all-rounder Janeiro Tucker had turned down the captaincy, leaving the selection committee little choice but to ask Marshall to fill the vacancy. But this was vehemently denied yesterday by the Board president.

Suspicion that there was some panicking on the part of the Board arose when the surprise announcement of Marshall as captain of the squad was made after the player had apologised for his questionable deportment in the past.

However, James claimed that any suggestion of the sort was unwarranted.

"There is no controversy over the appointment of the captain. Charlie Marshall was the unanimous choice of the selection committee and any other suggestion is not accurate with the thinking of the committee,'' said James.

"He was not thrown into the position for the sake of filling it after somebody else was an original choice. Janeiro Tucker was among those considered for the job and in the end it was awarded to Charlie Marshall. Not once did Janeiro have it.'' James also denied claims that Marshall was only invited to join the squad after writing his letter of apology two weeks ago. He said the player was one of an initial squad of 30 chosen several weeks ago.

The president said that Marshall perhaps felt that, having been excluded from previous squads following an incident at the ICC Trophy tournament in Malaysia, he should approach the Board.

"I think he did the thing that was on his mind, perhaps his conscience dictated to him that he needed to write the letter. I guess he felt that he had done some negative things in the past and wanted to get the point across that he has now matured and was determined to represent his country with pride once again,'' said James.

"I would bet that the many things that he expressed in the letter would help many players out there today who are participating right now. It was a positive step taken by a good cricketer.

"Now the past is the past and we can only rally behind him and give the support that he needs for the future.

"We look at him as being a successful skipper at Bailey's Bay, a social worker and fine cricketer who the kids look up to. And to top it off he has had a great season,'' said James.

"We haven't seen any reports about his behaviour this season so I don't see why anyone would want to question his behaviour at this time. My question is, why are there so many people who refuse to let go of one or two incidents of the past?'' James said that the Board's job is not to go out and look for players to reprimand or look at to put huge suspensions on their shoulders.

He said that they remain very concerned when disciplinary action is warranted and every step is taken to ensure that a player is properly rehabilitated when they are unruly.

"It's important to us, important to Bermuda at large to have players rehabilitated. We want to see good behaviour on the field of play, but we also want to see players being able to play once they are on the right track.

"This view applies to players who may be found to be positive when tested for drugs. A procedure is present to help them recover and get back on track and we adhere to it.

"That's where cricket plays a vital role in the community, getting that player back involved in something positive is something we all are proud to have contributed towards when it occurs.''