Marlon Samuels quits cricket amid wife slur controversy

Marlon Samuels has confirmed his retirement from professional cricket just days after sparking controversy with an “appalling” online rant.

Cricket West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave confirmed to ESPNCricinfo on Wednesday that Samuels had told the board of his retirement in June.

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Samuels last played for West Indies in an international match in December of 2018.

The 39-year-old played 71 Tests, 207 ODIs and 67 T20Is for his country, top-scoring in both of the West Indies’ T20 World Cup final wins

He scored over 11,000 international runs and also picked more than 150 wickets in a career marred by several controversies, including a two-year ban for corruption.

Confirmation of Samuels’ retirement comes after more controversy recently in which he targeted Ben Stokes and Shane Warne.

Reacting to a quote from English star Stokes suggesting Samuels was his “worst enemy”, the West Indian wrote online: “No white boy could diss me in the sports and no get back diss look at this b***h still thinking about me give me 14 days with you wife turn her into Jamaican in 14 seconds mate none of yall knows me that simple means it’s my f***ing superior skin tone yall hate f*** you.”

In an explosive tirade, Samuels also took aim at Warne.

“ICC cricketing world Ben b***h Stokes Shane b***h Warne and a few b***h West Indians cricketers … f*** with my army bigger and we richer,” the West Indian wrote.

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Samuels’ comments were condemned as “appalling” by former England captain Michael Vaughan, while Warne also fired back.

“I’ve just been sent what Samuels has posted re Ben Stokes & I,” Warne tweeted last week.

“It’s a very sad situation as he obviously needs serious help-but has no friends at all & not even his ex teammates like him.

“Just because you were an ordinary cricketer-no need to be an ordinary person. Get help son.”

Samuels took offence to comments from Stokes regarding his recent trip to New Zealand to visit his sick father, where he was forced to quarantine before seeing his family.

“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 pot luck 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.”

Samuels had several run-ins with Stokes and Warne during his career, most notably when he threw his bat at Warne during a Big Bash game in 2013.

Samuels responded after Warne threw the ball at him, having earlier grabbed and yelled at Samuels for interfering with one of Warne’s Melbourne Stars teammates.

Samuels ruthlessly mocked Stokes after the Englishman gave up four-straight sixes to lose the World T20 final against West Indies in 2016.

He then took aim at Stokes and Warne in his post-match press conference.

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