Marlon Samuels took years to mature as an international cricketer, but his performances on West Indies’ tour of England in 2012 made him a Wisden Cricketer of the Year the following spring. Here’s what Tony Cozier had to say in the 2013 almanack.
Samuels’ finished his Test career in 2016 with seven Test centuries to his name, months after hitting another match-winning hand in a World T20 final.
The transformation of Marlon Samuels from troubled underachiever to elite performer read like a Hollywood script. The steady improvement of West Indies after years of similar frustration was no coincidence. Together they served as a reminder that, for all the headlines gathered by Samuels’s fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt and the other Caribbean medalists at the London Olympics, it was cricket that first established the region’s reputation for sporting excellence.
The performances of Samuels in England surprised many, if not the man himself. In three Tests, he failed to pass 50 only once in five innings, averaged more than 96, and made the stump mic essential listening with his ice-cool rejoinders to the sledging. More runs at home to New Zealand soon after confirmed this was no fluke and, by the time he was winning the World Twenty20 final almost on his own, he had established himself in the upper echelons of global batsmanship. A maiden Test double-hundred followed in Bangladesh. It was some turnaround – and only a little of the sheen was removed when he became involved in a petty altercation with Shane Warne in Australia’s Big Bash League early in 2013.
It was no coincidence that he approached his best in South Africa, in 2007- 08, almost as soon as Gayle, a compatriot and trusted friend, took over the captaincy. Samuels compiled his second Test hundred, at Durban, and averaged 52. Then in quick succession came the problem with his action and the ICC ban. His future was in obvious doubt. Yet his spirited resurrection ensures it no longer is.
