SamuelsTony Becca, Contributing Editor
MARLON SAMUELS highlighted the second day's play of the Carib Beer Series cricket match against the Windward Islands at Alpart yesterday with his maiden century for Jamaica a classic, stroke-filled innings of 130 not out.
Rated by many as the country's most talented batsman since Lawrence Rowe and Jeffrey Dujon, Samuels, not only achieved the milestone eight years after his debut as a 16-year-old, but in doing so, in pushing Jamaica to 385 for four replying to the Windward Islands' first innings 212, in ticking off his third first-class century, preened himself on a pitch that remained good for batting, under a clear blue sky, and in brilliant sunshine.
survived two chances
Going to bat at 123 for three 44 minutes before lunch, Samuels who survived two chances one at 25 when he edged right-arm legspinner Olanza Jackson low to Darren Sammy at slip and one at 56 when he flicked pacer Xavier Gabriel and Deighton Butler at square-leg failed to pull down a difficult catch batted for 282 minutes, faced 249 deliveries, and to the delight of the fans, stroked nine boundaries one of which, a scintillating front foot drive through the covers off Gabriel, took him out of the nervous 90s and to his century.
An elegant batsman who strokes the ball with such timing, almost every one of his boundary strokes was something to see particularly after lunch when, after sitting back and allowing big Christopher Gayle to go at the Windward Islands bowlers, after scoring only six runs before the interval, he opened up and paraded his repertoire of strokes.
In the first over after the break, the right-hander went back and pulled a short delivery from right-arm legspinner Rawl Lewis to the wide long-on boundary. Shortly after that, he slipped his left foot forward and drove left-arm pacer Butler sweetly through the covers, and from there on, the handclaps echoed around the ground as the fans responded to his brilliance.
other batsmen in good form
Unfortunately for the Windward Islands bowlers, there were two other batsmen in good form. One was Gayle, and one was Carlton Baugh Jr.
Resuming on 12, Gayle, batting for 242 minutes and facing 163 deliveries, struck eight fours and two sixes while scoring 88 before, after a grand mix-up with Samuels, he was run out at 219 for three.
One of Gayle's sixes was off offspinner Shane Shillingford the ball sailing over the stand behind the mid-wicket boundary and landing in the bushes way beyond it.
Baugh, joining the action at 221 for four and batting for 177 minutes while facing 133 deliveries, stroked seven fours, hit one six, and scored 76 not out while sharing an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 164 with Samuels.
The six, a sweep off Jackson that cleared the boundary at mid-wicket, was a lovely shot no question about it. The shot that left the fans buzzing, however, was typical Baugh. It was a hit, not a drive, it was off pacer Gabriel, and it flew high to the long-on boundary.
Resuming at 53 without loss, Jamaica lost captain Wavell Hinds for 44 at 69 for one when he played forward to Shillingford and edged a catch to Sammy at slip, Donovan Pagon for 33 at 123 for two when a delivery from Shillingford jumped on him, hit the shoulder of the bat and flew high for wicketkeeper Junior Murray to take a simple catch, and Tamar Lambert for zero at 219 for three the stocky right-hander going tentatively onto the front-foot and edging Butler to Murray.
To a number of the fans on hand, however, apart from Samuel's effort, the innings of the day was not Gayle's, and it was not Baugh's. Probably because they had never seen him in such a mood, to them the next best performance to that by Samuels was that by Pagon who, facing only 42 deliveries, stroked two fours and struck three sixes all off Shillingford.
The first one to get off the mark, was a sweep to square-leg, the second was a chip-and-drive over long-off, and the third was a sweep - this time to mid-wicket and way beyond the boundary.
Windwards 1st Innings 212
JAMAICA 1st Innings
(overnight 53 without loss)
W. Hinds c Sammy b Shillingford 44
C. Gayle run out (Lewis) 88
D. Pagon c wk Murray b Shillingford 33
M. Samuels not out 130
T. Lambert c wk Murray b Butler 0
+C. Baugh not out 76
Extras (lb5, w2, nb7) 14
TOTAL (4 wkts) 385
Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-123, 3-219, 4-221.
Bowling: Butler 19-3-93-1, Gabriel 13-1-49-0,Lewis 20-5-55-0, Shillingford
33-3-95-2, Jackson 23-2-88-0.
Umpires: C. Fletcher, B. Morgan.
