Scintillating Samuels sizzles

BRISBANE: A majestic record-breaking 257 from Marlon Samuels made the third day of the West Indies’ warm-up match against Queensland Bulls at Allan Border Field, a day that will live long in the memory by all who were fortunate to witness his amazing innings. A crowd that had swelled to an estimated 3,000 in anticipation of a classic knock from batting star batsman Brian Lara were instead enthralled by the almost perfect combination of sublime timing, precise placement, and effortless power from the elegant right-hander, whose innings lifted the visitors to a monumental 612 all out, and a first innings lead of 289 over the Bulls.

Queensland go into the final day today (last night, Caribbean time) at 52 for one, having lost Test opener Matthew Hayden cheaply for the second time in the match, and needing another 237 runs to avoid an innings defeat. The visitors’ push for victory and, more importantly, their readiness for the first Test against Australia at the Gabba, suffered a setback with fast-medium bowler Daren Powell unable to take the field late on Saturday, as he continued to struggle with a strained hip muscle. Yet nothing could take the gloss off Samuels’ innings, not even the latest failure by Lara, who lasted just five deliveries before being bowled off the inside edge for one by left-arm seamer Mitchell Johnson.

Lara had eventually come to the crease at number eight in the order, but extended his poor run in Australia that started  with the Super Series earlier in the month, and has now seen him compile just 47 runs from six innings since he arrived Down Under a month ago. Samuels had hinted at a long innings by the careful manner of his batting on the second evening, but few could have anticipated the master class that he unveiled on a day blessed with the sort of weather worthy of such an effort. Almost five years after an impressive Test debut, as an emergency replacement for Shivnarine Chanderpaul on the previous West Indies tour of Australia, Samuels responded to the greater responsibility thrust upon him in the absence of the injured Wavell Hinds in the most spectacular manner.

His 257 that lasted just under six and a half hours, and included 34 fours and eight sixes off 304 balls, beat Queensland batsman Martin Love’s 250 against England three years earlier as the highest score on the ground. It fell 20 runs short of Lara’s 277 in the Sydney Test of 1992-93, as the highest score by a West Indian in Australia, while his 156-run ninth-wicket partnership with Powell was a new record for the wicket on the ground. As if that was not enough, the team’s final total of 612 was just four runs adrift of the 616 amassed in the Adelaide Test of the 1968-69 series, as the Caribbean side’s highest total in this country. Yet as impressive as the statistics may be, they barely scratch at the surface of a chanceless innings that was played with such authority against a decent bowling attack.

West Indian fans everywhere will be hoping fervently that this was the performance that will signal Samuel’s emergence as a consistent batsman capable of finally doing justice to his considerable ability. Timing the ball sweetly on both sides of the wicket against both pace and spin, he did not lift the ball off the turf until past the half-century mark, following which he singled out Chris Simpson for merciless punishment. The off-spin bowler was enjoying his morning’s work, as he had Chanderpaul stumped for 41, Dwayne Bravo caught at short mid-wicket for 27 —  a not unusual mode of dismissal for the all-rounder —  and then had Denesh Ramdin caught at the wicket for a “duck.” But bowling to Samuels was an entirely different proposition, as he conceded six of the eight sixes struck by the hero of the day, all of which sailed well beyond the boundary in an arc between long-off and long-on.

As much as the assault damaged the figures of Simpson, who finished with four for 173 off 39 overs, it also caused one spectator to check if his automobile insurance was fully paid up as one of the sixes shattered his windshield in the adjacent car park. There was no restraining the rampant Samuels in an afternoon period in which he plundered 114 runs in racing from 87 to 201, racing past his previous highest First-Class score of 160 (against Windward Islands earlier this year) and turning just his such hundred into a virtuoso performance.

Coming to the crease after Lara’s swift demise produced a collective sigh of disappointment from the fans, Tino Best entertained in his own inimitable way in contributing 23 to a 72-run, eighth-wicket partnership before wicketkeeper Chris Hartley claimed his fifth victim of the innings, when the lower-order batsmen edged Michael Kasprowicz just as the second new ball was taken. Despite the handicap of his injury, and an abysmal record with the bat on the recent Sri Lankan tour, Powell offered more than capable support to his compatriot, indulging in his own extravagant strokes in crashing five fours and one six in an unbeaten 34. He might have even had designs on a second First-Class half-century before Samuels top-edged a sweep off Andrew Symonds and Kasprowicz judged a steepling catch well on the backward square-leg boundary.

This dismissal ended the innings, since Hinds was unable to bat, and precipitated a rousing standing ovation for Samuels, and sincere congratulations from the Queensland players on his way back to the pavilion. In the 13 overs faced to the close, Hayden looked to be in the mood to make amends for his first innings duck, hammering four fours in one over off Bravo, who was sharing the new ball with Best. But after falling on Thursday attempting to pull Powell, he perished this time for 22 via a miscued hook to Lara on the long-leg boundary. The West Indies’ premier batsman at least made a contribution to the team effort, but would have been the first to acknowledge that this was a day made memorable by an innings or rare brilliance by Samuels. (CMC)