Birmingham, England – Marlon Samuels described his rich vein of form on the tour of England as “my time” after leading West Indies batting again in the third and final Test on Saturday.
Marlon Samuels has so far scored 386 runs in the series. Photo: windiescricket.comThe 31-year-old Samuels led the way with 76, as the Windies, sent in to bat, reached 280 for eight in their first innings at the close on the scheduled third day at Edgbaston.
This followed scores of 31 and 86 in the first Test at Lord’s in London, and his third Test hundred of 117 and an undefeated 76 in the second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
He is now the leading batsman in the series. He has scored 386 runs at an average of 96.50 including this latest innings.
“I am not doing anything different, but the difference is that I am playing consistently,” he told reporters following play.
“A lot of distractions kept me out of the game for many different reasons, but this is my time. I have held on for a long time and been through a lot – and I am now enjoying myself – this is my time to shine.”
He added: “It rained for two days – can’t do anything about it – but the focus and the dedication was still there for me knowing that once the rain was not falling, we would get the opportunity to play some cricket.
“For me, it was just about being out there and being able to continue with the good form, and enjoy myself.”
Samuels struck 10 fours and a six off 114 balls in just over 2 ½ hours at the crease, playing some handsome strokes through off-side.
Still showing a high-level of caution, he batted with much more freedom than he did in previous innings in the series.
“There was no plan to play this way, but I guess in the first couple of Tests, Stuart Broad and James Anderson were not giving me as much boundaries balls,” he said.
“This current bowling attack [of Tim Bresnan, Steve Finn and Graham Onions] has definitely given me more opportunities to score and I am using them.”
He said: “But it’s also a mind thing too. . .I play all three formats of the game. When I got to England, the first thing I did was to bat a lot of balls using the indoor nets, ‘leaving alone’ six or seven buckets straight.
“So my mindset was to ‘leave alone’ a lot of balls in English conditions and spend a lot of time as possible, quality time in the middle.”