The personal rivalry between Marlon Samuels and Ben Stokes has become a much-talked-about topic ahead of the upcoming five-match ODI series between England and Windies, starting on Tuesday (September 19) at Old Trafford.
The bad blood between the duo began when Samuels gave a ‘saluting’ send off to Stokes during the Grenada Test a couple of years ago. The duo then took their rivalry one notch higher during the last year’s World T20 final which the Windies won, courtesy of Samuels’ unbeaten 85 and Carlos Brathwaite’s four consecutive sixes off Stokes in the last over.
And with the players set to renew their rivalry in the upcoming series, the focus will be firmly on them. However, the captains of both the teams, Eoin Morgan and Jason Holder are not worried about a possible ugly confrontation between the two players and have backed their respective teammates to be competitive.
“I have no worries at all,” said England skipper Eoin Morgan when asked about the Stokes-Samuels rivalry. “I want Ben to be himself, and I want him to get into the contest of a game. It is part and parcel of his character, and it is part and parcel of getting the best out of Ben Stokes. The more he has played, the more he has matured as a cricketer, so we have no worries at all.”
“Marlon is one competitive guy,” said West Indies captain Jason Holder. “He likes a good competition. Whether that is something beneficial to him, he has to decide that. Whatever Marlon needs to do to get himself fired up, I am quite happy for him to do it as long as it is in the spirit of the game. Marlon has been a good player for us down the years, and hopefully, he can bring stability to our order.”
Meanwhile, Morgan said that his team is keen to get over the ‘little bit of angst’ by doing well in the series after not going all the way in the Champions Trophy. The hosts were the favourites to lift the trophy, but their promising campaign came to an unexpected end in the semifinal when they lost against eventual winners, Pakistan.
“We felt we weren’t good enough [against Pakistan] to make the final,” said Morgan. “There is a little bit of angst there and will to produce a significant performance in this series.”