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Shane Warne and Marlon Samuels feud goes back a long way

2:41 PM Monday Apr 4, 2016

It takes two to tango.

Shane Warne isn't innocent in his long-held feud with West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels.

The pair's famous grudge erupted again in the final of the World Twenty20 when Samuels chose to use his post-match media interviews as an opportunity to attack Warne.

Samuels smashed 85 not out from 66 balls to help the West Indies to a thrilling win over England in the tournament final and was named man of the match.

The 35-year-old, who has had a running battle with Warne since an ugly confrontation during a Big Bash League match in 2013, dedicated his personal award to the Australian spinner.

"I played a Test series in Australia (recently) and every day, Shane Warne has a problem with me," Samuels said.

"I've never disrespected him.

"I don't know. Maybe because my face is real and his face is not?"

Samuels is facing potential disciplinary action from the ICC for his comments about Warne - on top of the fine he was issued (30 per cent of his match fee) for verbally abusing England allrounder Ben Stokes in the final over of the match.

His attack on Warne came almost immediately after the 708 Test wicket-taker had just posted congratulations to his old adversary on his official Twttter account.






Warne posted his comment at 3.23am (AEDT) and Samuels launched his first verbal barb at the leg-spinner less than five minutes later when accepting his man-of-the-match award.


However, it was Warne who first turned their simmering personal tensions back into an active grudge.

The Aussie spin king was highly critical of Samuels for his performance in the West Indies' World Twenty20 semi-final win over India last week.


Warne said Samuels was "embarrassing" and "pretty poor" after he was dismissed early in the Windies' run chase.


"Well, this is a bit embarrassing for Marlon Samuels," Warne said during his commentary of the match for Indian television.

"Look where he is. He's nearly off the pitch backing away again. He's backed away every ball. "It was just a normal length ball from Ashish Nehra.

"For your No. 3, Marlon Samuels, in this situation, in such a big game, that's an embarrassing dismissal. That's pretty poor.

"I'm still trying to get over Marlon Samuels' dismissal.

"You can't back away that far as a No. 3 batsman when your team's struggling and they need one of the experienced players to hang in there.

"He was so worried about the short ball and to get out the way he did, in that manner, you can see why the dressing room and the dugout for the West Indies was so flat."

The pair's famous first confrontation during a Big Bash clash between the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades during the 2012-13 season is far from the only time the pair have exchanged heated words.

That first clash, where Warne swore at his rival and appeared to deliberately hit Samuels when throwing the ball back to Stars wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, created international headlines.

Samuels hurled his bat down the pitch the near Warne when the Aussie veteran got away without punishment for his throw.

It came after Warne angrily yelled, "F*** you, Marlon!" after the Windies big-hitter had earlier grabbed Melbourne Stars teammate David Hussey's shirt.

The pair were at it again during the Australian summer of cricket when Warne criticised Samuels for his involvement in a calamitous run-out mix up with Kraigg Braithwaite.

"Horrific running from Marlon Samuels there," Warne told Channel 9 during the Sydney Test in January.

"He hit it in the gap and he was just sort of too cool for school when he took off.

"What was Samuels doing? He was just in no-man's land saying 'yes', 'no', then just stood in the middle of the wicket and blames his partner.

"Sorry Marlon, it's all your fault."

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