Despite tasting the bitter results in the Champions Trophy 2013, Marlon Samuels believes that West Indies are ready to replicate the success of old times. He expressed that Windies cricket had a tough time but now they are ready to claim the top spot because of the very well balanced side that they had chalked out with time. West Indies will take on India and Sri Lanka in the tri-nation tournament which will start on Friday with the home team taking on Sri Lanka at Kingston Oval.
Marlon Samuels was quoted by Indian Express saying, "We are not going to blow our own trumpet but at the moment we have some wonderful players with a lot of experience. So you can't rule us out. The great thing about West Indies cricket right now is that we are competing and winning games, not like back then when we were losing games. And not just in the Caribbean but also outside it, the fans are coming back. So that is motivating us to win more games so that we can win back the fans' hearts plus put West Indies cricket back on top."
Samuels knows very well that his side is currently standing at No.8 positions in ICC Rankings and to improve that they need a great deal of efforts. He was quoted by Times of India saying, "It is a steep corner to turn but the good thing is that we are on the corner, we have not turned it as yet, so there are a lot of areas we need to improve. We need to have more match-winners and get balls in the (right) areas consistently. As a unit we are getting stronger and better and the strength in the group will, in the long-run, see us winning games non-stop and beat the best teams in the world."
He added, "For me, when I finish I want to know that West Indies cricket is No 1 again.”
West Indies saw an early exit from the Champions Trophy which was quite heart breaking but Samuels was quoted saying, "The way I saw it we should go back into the finals and meet India and then it would be perfect. We would just play a T20 and finish off the tournament, we are the T20 champions. It never happened."
Middle-order batsman is upbeat about the chances of Windies claiming the tri-nation series despite the two of the strongest ODI teams of World Cricket taking part. He was quoted by Deccan Chronicle saying, "India and Sri Lanka are very good teams. Big names and some young players coming through in good form and playing well, but I am still backing the unit that I have a lot of belief in." he said.
"We are playing some serious cricket right now and gaining a lot of respect, individually and as a team. Playing in maroon is more special than anything else for us. Our cricket is where we want it to be at the moment but there is room to improve," he concluded.