The real Marlon Samuels
The last of the stylish West Indian batsmen
Many would say that his pre frontal cortex may not have been fully developed. Some would say that he lacked a solid support structure around him and all would say that he didn’t have constipation of the mouth.
Love him or hate him, Marlon Samuels was one of us and he blessed the beautiful game with some glorious innings.
It’s reductive to reduce his contributions to the two T20 world cup final knocks in 2012 and 2016. Marlon produced majestic knocks in each of the formats.
One of the Wisden cricketers of the year in 2013 and named in both Test and T20 best XI in 2012. It seems odd that Marlon the cricketer is often overlooked inspite of his overall modest returns.
He may now be the self proclaimed braggadocious ICON but that should not distract from the talent he possessed on the cricket field.
Many have chosen to bury him over the past few weeks but it possible to praise him as well.
I never had the chance to see Lawrence Rowe bat, but Jamaican folk of yesteryear described his batting as art, something pure and wonderful. I did, however, have the privilege of seeing Carl Hooper bat and during these moments I realized that one day I would be telling my children about how someone made batting look easy in its simplest form. Sir Carl was the epitome of a batsman.
I recently came across an article about the best cover drives in the sport, past and present. To my surprise, Carl Hooper’s name was nowhere to be found. I had to laugh at the disrespect as names such as Alistair Cook (fine player), Damien Martyn, Babar Azam and Yuvraj Singh all made the list. To any true cricketing connoisseur, this list was perhaps downright rude.
Marlon Samuels was the second coming of Carl Hooper both in style and unfulfilled West Indian talent. He was the last of the stylistic batsmen from the Caribbean albeit some now point to Shai Hope. West Indies cricket lovers are blessed with batsmen who have natural raw talent that can’t be coached. In fact, attempting to over-coach them would hamper their game and their development. Marlon Samuels was such a player.
It could be argued that the administrators failed miserably in not developing Marlon as a statesman of the game but say what you will about his behaviour the boy could bat. He was a pleasure to watch when he showed up and I can say without apology, that despite him not being a great, he was the last West Indian batsman who had the strokes to remind us that while form may be temporary, class is permanent.
To the self proclaimed ICON we thank you for your service.
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