Samuels has performed exceptionally well: Gibson – Cricket News Update
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Marlon-Nathaniel-Samuels-c74804, saying the 31-year-old has fulfilled his role in the middle-order spectacularly.
“He's played fantastically well in the middle order,” Gibson said. “He and Shiv (Chanderpaul) have had a lot of work to do and he's done that work exceptionally well.”
Samuels was unable to play for the national side during their series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013.
In the first match, the right-hander managed scores of 31 and 86, while the second game at Nottingham saw him contributing a solid 117 to bring his team’s first innings total up to 370 after veteran batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/S-Chanderpaul-c2390 was dismissed for 46. He
also went on to score an unbeaten 76 in the last innings.
The head coach also appreciated the efforts of skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DJG-Sammy-c1382, who was the only other batsman to score a century in the second Test other than Samuels.
“He works very hard, he's an honest cricketer and it's always pleasing when that hard work pays off,” said Gibson in regards to Sammy’s century.
The skipper has been targeted by several critics of late, notable among them former West Indies pacer and cricket commentator http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Michael-Anthony-Holding-c75756, who claimed that the skipper’s dismal individual performances of late had made the cricketer a liability in the
team, which could not afford to “carry anyone while they are struggling in Test matches.”
However, Sammy proved his worth in the second Test, with a 106-run contribution in the first innings.
“In his case, the amount of criticism he's been getting, even from some of our own people, makes it even more special for him,” Gibson observed.
The head coach went on to lament the fact that the team had failed to capitalise on the efforts of Samuels and Sammy, losing the second Test by 9 wickets.
“I was delighted for him as I was for Marlon as well. But we didn't utilise the hard work they'd done,” he said.
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