Marlon Samuels’ second coming [Part 4]
Continued from Part 3 …
The West Indies defied all the odds, and worked their way up to the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DJG-Sammy-c1382 leading the
attack, while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Samuel-Badree-c88341, and Samuels chipped in with one wicket each, to propel the team to a 36-run win, and the title.
Accepting his Player of the Match award, Samuels dedicated the win “to Jamaica, to the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760”, and resolved to put extra effort into Test cricket, which he termed the most superior format of the game. Reflecting on how Samuels had finally made it,
skipper Sammy pointed out that the 31-year-old had more than made up for the years during which he had been absent from the national side.
“The two years he missed ... two years of international runs,” Sammy said. “He's scored so much since he's been back.”
While the euphoria from the World T20 eventually died down, Samuels’ determination did not. Focused on improving his game, the West Indies' recent tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 saw him scoring the first double-century of his Test career – a massive 260, which formed
part of a gargantuan 326-run stand with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DM-Bravo-c1386, followed by a 177-run partnership with Chanderpaul. To add to the triumph, was a confident 126 during the ODIs, and an unbeaten 85 in the Only T20I, which took the Windies to an 18-run win.
In view of the current trend of his performances, Samuels is blazing an upward trail, and shows no signs of stopping. In addition to having pulled off a successful comeback, he is out to prove he isn’t just a one-hit wonder, and has displayed an element
of consistency in his recent performances. The change is also visible in his attitude – in place of a selfish, flamboyant young player out in search of individual fame and glory, is a mature, calculating batsman, keen on putting forth a solid performance for
the team.
“… I am batting for the team. A lot of balls that could've been hit for the boundary I left them alone,” Samuels said during the second Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 earlier this year.
His rise in form, and promising development as a player bodes well for the team. With veteran Test batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Chanderpaul-c2390 edging closer to his retirement, Samuels shows plenty of potential as a steady accumulator of runs, and appears to be developing,
overtime, into a solid anchor in the West Indies’ middle order.
A veteran of 44 Tests (2690 runs, with 5 centuries and a strike rate of 48.25) and 142 ODIs (3455 runs, with 4 centuries and a strike rate of 74.67), the right-handed batsman is slowly building up to a peak, but is careful not to take any of it for granted.
“Sometimes you are just living carefree,” he said while talking to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sandeep-Kuppu-Rao-Sriram-c88493 Veera after his return to international cricket, reflecting on the things that had gone before. “It takes something to happen to you to realise how precious life is. I appreciate life
more now … Anything happened to me God wanted it to happen to me. This is my story and this is my book.”
Judging by the twists and turns it has recently taken, the story could turn out to be a great one.
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