A longstanding feud between Marlon Samuels and Ben Stokes has added another ugly chapter after the West Indian recently posted crude comments about the Englishman’s wife.
The latest incident was sparked after Stokes related his experiences travelling back to New Zealand to visit his ailing father. Due to the effects of the pandemic, visitors to the country must undergo a 14-day quarantine period.
“You get off the plane, get your bag, walk out and get told what hotel to go to,” Stokes told BBC.
“There’s no choice, it’s potluck whether you get a good hotel or not. The government have chosen certain hotels to be the quarantine hotels.
“I posted a few Instagram stories and some of the England boys were messaging me asking, ‘What it’s like?’ and I was saying, ‘It wasn’t the most enjoyable thing you ever have to do, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy’.
“I text my brother saying the same thing, and my brother asked, ‘You wouldn’t even do that to Marlon Samuels?’ I said, ‘No, it’s that bad’, — that’s how tough it was.”
Though the comments seemed of a light-hearted nature, Samuels was clearly angered by them and posted a fiery response via his Instagram story timeline. In the deleted post Samuels who called Stokes, a ‘white boy’ and a ‘bitch’ insisted that he would not be disrespected before making a crude and lewd reference regarding the player’s wife. He went on to state that the perceived hate towards him was because of his ‘superior skin tone.
The comments have set off a firestorm in the global cricket arena, with the out of favour West Indies player receiving plenty of criticism, including from former England captain Michael Vaughn.
‘This is appalling @marlonsamuels… we are trying to stamp out racism…!! A bit of banter by @benstokes38 should not lead to this…’ Vaughn said via his Twitter feed.
The bitter feud between the players has lasted for five years with Samuels famously saluting Stokes off the field during a Test match in Grenada in April 2015. The England man returned the favour when Samuels was out in the same match.
During the 2016 World Twenty20 final in Kolkata, after Carlos Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes off Stokes deliveries in the final over to guide West Indies to victory, Samuels mocked his opponent with the two exchanging heated words. In his book, ‘Firestarter’ published in 2016, Stokes accused Samuels of ‘lacking respect.’ (Sportsmax)
