Marlon Samuels smashed West Indies to an incredible World Twenty20 final win over England then teed off at Shane Warne with even more vigour.
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“I don’t know what he had to say, but Marlon is very emotional and the emotion came out then”, Simmons said of the Jamaican who in 2007 copped a two-year ban for allegedly passing on team information to an illegal bookmaker – a charge Samuels denied.
Samuels however, had the last laugh when he “dedicated” his “Player of the Match” award to Warne, adding that he “answered with the bat, not the mic”. It erupted in the second season of the Big Bash League in 2013 when the leg-spinner’s throw from a close range whizzed by Samuels’ face after which Samuels responded angrily by hurling his bat in the bowler’s direction.
Samuels” attack came in the wake of Warne’s recent comments, where he described the Caribbean batsman as “embarrassing” and “pretty boring’ after he was dismissed for eight during the high-octane semifinal clash against hosts India in Mumbai on Thursday.
“I don’t appreciate the way he continues to talk to about me and the things that he keeps doing”, Samuels said after last night’s final in Kolkata. Don’t know why. I’ve never disrespected him. I don’t know what’s the problem.
Samuels verbally abused Stokes after the third six, earning a fine equivalent to 30 per cent of his match fee.
Samuels claimed confrontation is what he thrives on and also took aim at another of his old rivals, announcing during his on-field man-of-the-match presentation that: “This is for Shane Warne”. “They keep telling him whenever he plays against me, do not speak to me because I’m going to perform”.
Earlier, Stokes had sledged Samuels when West Indies slipped to 11 for three before they chased down England’s total of 155 with two balls to spare. It is only understandable for Samuels to give it back to Warne after leading his side to victory in the final against England.
“Stokes if a nervous laddie, so what I told Brathwaite was to just hold his pose and he’s going to bowl a couple of full tosses – as always – and it will work in our favour”. “Cricket means the world to them just as cricket in India”.
As a senior cricketer in the team, Samuels, needs to realise how to tone down the rush of emotions after achieving success and display humility and not get carried away with such superciliousness.
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“He (Samuels) fought through everything in Australia and he came here and he just won us a World Cup and I’d just like to say congrats to Marlon, congrats to the team and congrats to the whole West Indies”. We have done that on many occasions.
