?MARLON SAMUELS has credited two Barbadian legends with helping to inspire his cricketing success over the past year.
The Jamaican, who was introduced last week as one of the six franchise players in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), named National Hero Sir Garfield Sobers and Sir Wes Hall as two of the guiding lights behind his transformation.
Speaking to MIDWEEK SPORT in an interview at the CPL launch, Samuels revealed that he had always wanted to meet Sir Garry, and so on his very first trip to Barbados, he arranged to have a meeting with the man many consider to be the best cricketer ever to play the game.
And from that first introduction, Samuels said that they had formed a strong connection.
“Sir Garfield Sobers is responsible for the way that I bat, and the ease and the grace that I use with my batting style,” he said.
“He’s always telling me to stick to the basics and that I stroke the cricket ball so easy and that I just need to continue to be patient and to be a consistent player.
“Right now I am getting this opportunity to play consistently and I am just using all my years of talking to great players including Sir Garry and putting everything together into one package.”
Samuels said he would spend time with Sir Garry on every available opportunity he got when he came to Barbados.
“Since getting that opportunity to meet him, we have formed a good relationship and whenever I am here and the opportunity arises, I always go and spend some time with him.
“He has always encouraged me and whenever I ask him about batting he keeps telling me simple stuff and I take that simple stuff and put it in my batting.”
Samuels also spoke highly of Sir Wes, saying the fast bowling great was another influential person in his cricketing career.
“Sir Wes Hall has also been a very important person in my life, as a Bajan,”?he said. “I used to come to Barbados and stay with Sir Wes and his family as well, and during that time he has always made sure to point me in the right direction.
“The amount of knowledge which I have obtained from both Sir Garfield and Sir Wes has really helped me to improve my cricket, because I am still at a learning stage of my career,” Samuels pointed out.
And with his recent successes, including playing a starring role in helping the West Indies’ triumph in the 2012 World Twenty20, Samuels is definitely charting his own path to greatness, in the hope of following in the footsteps of Sir Garry and Sir Wes.
