Nottingham, May 29 (IANS/CMC): West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson has praised the form of Marlon Samuels following the right-hander's outstanding batting in the second Test which finished inside four days at Trent Bridge here Monday.
Samuels scored 117 in the first innings and returned to hit an unbeaten 76 in the second as the West Indies slipped to a nine-wicket defeat, to go behind 0-2 in the three-Test series.
"He's come on this tour, he spoke to the board and was allowed to miss the Australia series," Gibson told reporters.
"He came on this tour perhaps with a point to prove and he's proven his point.
"He's played fantastically well in the middle order. He and Shiv (Chanderpaul) have had a lot of work to do and he's done that work exceptionally well."
Samuels has compiled 310 runs at an average of 103 while Chanderpaul has also been among the runs with 235 runs at an average of 78.
Samuels and captain Darren Sammy have been the only players to manage centuries for the West Indies in the series, both coming in the just concluded Test in a record 204-run seventh wicket stand.
Gibson said he was especially pleased for Sammy whose place in the side had been repeatedly questioned.
"He works very hard, he's an honest cricketer and it's always pleasing when that hard work pays off," said Gibson.
"In his case, the amount of criticism he's been getting even from some of our own people, makes it even more special for him.
"I was delighted for him as I was for Marlon as well. But we didn't utilise the hard work they'd done."
Trailing on first innings at Trent Bridge by 58 runs, the West Indies collapsed to 61 for six at the end of the third to virtually concede the game and it was only Samuels' enterprise on Monday's fourth day that helped the tourists to 165 all out and pushed the game beyond tea.
Brief Scores:
West Indies: 370 (Marlon Samuels 117, Darren Sammy 106, Shiv Chanderpaul 46, Kieran Powell 33; Tim Bresnan 4-106, James Anderson 2-73, Stuart Broad 2-81) and 141 for eight (Marlon Samuels 52 not out, Darren Sammy 25, Darren Bravo 22; Tim Bresnan 4-37, James Anderson 3-41).
England: 428 (Andrew Strauss 141, Kevin Pietersen 80, Tim Bresnan 39 not out, Jonathan Trott 35, Stuart Broad 25, Alistair Cook 24, Ian Bell 22; Ravi Rampaul 3-75, Marlon Samuels 2-14, Kemar Roach 2-90, Darren Sammy 2-120) and 111 for one (Andrew Strauss 45, Alistair Cook 43 not out).