Fifteen years since a promising Test debut on the same shores, Marlon Samuels has returned to Australia as the embodiment of a fading cricketing system where making the most of opportunities is not necessarily paramount
Daniel Brettig in Hobart11-Dec-2015Marlon Samuels was pitched into Test cricket at the moment when West Indies began an era of wallowing that has now exceeded the period in which they were unbeaten in series, from 1980 to 1995.An injury replacement for the third Test against Australia in Adelaide in December 2000 after the first two matches ended in heavy defeats, he showed considerable skill and guts in the remaining three matches of the series, even as it lurched inevitably to a 5-0 sweep for Steve Waugh’s team. At the end of the Melbourne match, Waugh was asked what advice he had for his opposite number Jimmy Adams. Came the reply: “I’d tell him to have a serious drink tonight!”With a double of 60 and 46, a 19-year-old Samuels was the only ray of light for that team. When Waugh also advised the West Indies “they’ve just got to stick with a couple of young guys who they think are going to be their future”, most reckoned he was talking primarily about Samuels, who had looked sure of technique and cool of mind amid the wreckage. He ended that series with 160 runs at 34.40, but looked good for plenty more.Fifteen years and 62 Test matches later, Samuels still averages 34. His career has been one of mediocrity – the occasional burst of brilliance such as England in 2012 overshadowed by extended periods of indifference. There was also of course his four years out of international cricket as a result of a ban for passing information on to bookmakers. To watch his listless display on the first two days of this match was to realise yet another ruinous element of West Indies cricket culture in recent times.Countless column inches and Twitter characters have been occupied by the issue of those players unavailable for West Indies duty as a result of their preference for the more lucrative pursuits of domestic Twenty20 leagues such as the IPL, BBL, BPL and CPL. Far less has been said about the fact that their absence has allowed the bar to be set unedifyingly low for those left behind to represent the region.The only established player to sparkle has been Darren Bravo, who offered a hearty portion of his classical batting on a chilly Hobart afternoon and also evidence he had learned from an underwhelming series against the same opposition in the West Indies earlier this year. Numerous senior men have performed poorly in this match so far, be it Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach with the ball or Denesh Ramdin with the gloves.Nevertheless, Samuels is the embodiment of this dilemma. Whether it is the dysfunction of the WICB, the intransigence of WIPA, the desultory attitudes of the Caribbean players now preferring T20, or the age-old island rivalries and intrigues that have always been a problem for the team – something has sapped Samuel’s drive to be his best. Yet the lack of other options available to the West Indies selectors, either by choice or compulsion, means he can continue to be picked for an international team despite his lack of impact or contribution.These past two days have provided a neat illustration. For most of Australia’s innings, Samuels skulked around the outfield, seldom extending himself when chasing the many deliveries that skated in his direction via the bats of Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh. Having been banned for bowling with an illegal action and declined to change his technique, his offbreaks are unavailable to Jason Holder. While batting, he lasted 14 deliveries and one signature boundary before chipping a return chance to Nathan Lyon – the bowler’s athletic effort to claim the catch contrasted with the batsman’s static bearing.Another contrast could be found when lining Samuels up against a fellow 30-something – his opposite number in the Australian batting order. A score of 269 not out was a just reward for Voges, even if much of the West Indies bowling to him was amateurish. Whatever the opposition, Voges is the product of a system where making the most of opportunities is paramount. Samuels is the side effect of a system where it is not.Where Samuels was drafted in at 19 and been chosen more or less whenever available ever since, Voges was a Test match 12th man in 2006 but had to wait nine years and all manner of ups and downs for his debut, in Dominica earlier this year. At 36, Voges plays every match and every innings as though it is his last, while the 34-year-old Samuels ambles through as though it is routine to play without always having to perform. There is little between the pair in terms of talent; plenty in the application stakes.Selectors the world over have had to learn that the composition of the best teams require a balance between youth and experience. The old can educate the young, and the young can bring enthusiasm and freshness the old may no longer possess in ample qualities. But it is not enough to be a senior player in years; a senior contribution to the dressing room and the on-field effort should be mandatory.In a dressing room where the likes of Holder, Bravo, Kraigg Brathwaite, Jermaine Blackwood and others are looking for advice and support, Samuels is providing a questionable example. When he began in Australia all those years ago, the likes of Adams, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul offered varying degrees of assistance – Samuels would do well to remember what helped him and what did not. In the case of Bravo, so composed this day at Bellerive, Samuels can perhaps see his younger self, at a time when effort and concentration were not so muddled by history.It cannot be disputed that in a team as embattled as this one, Holder in particular needs all the senior-player support he can get. More debatable is how much Samuels actually offers him.
