Ben Stokes taunted by West Indies' Marlon Samuels after disastrous last over in World T20 final
The pair had a running battle throughout the match in Kolkata
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Your support makes all the difference.Marlon Samuels rubbed salt in Ben Stokes's wounds following England's agonising World Twenty20 final defeat to West Indies.
The West Indies batsman and England bowler were involved in a verbal sparring match throughout the dramatic match in Kolkata, so much so that Samuels was later fined for taking it too far.
It fell to Stokes to bowl the last over of the tournament, with West Indies needing 19 to win. Carlos Brathwaite would hit four successive sixes to lead his nation to glory and leave Stokes devastated.
Samuels though had little sympathy for the Durham man, who appared to be tears after the match, in his post-match interview.
"Well, he doesn’t learn," he said. "I didn’t even face a ball and he had so much to say to me that I knew I had to be right there at the end ... again. That’s what I thrive on.
"Stokes is a nervous laddie, so what I told Brathwaite was to just hold his pose and he’s going to bowl a couple of full tosses — as always — and it will work in our favour."
Samuels won the ‘Player of the Final’ award following his unbeaten 85 from 66 balls - however it was somewhat tarnished when the batsman was fined 30 per cent of his match fee for “using a language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match”. It related to an incident picked up by the officials in the final over.
Earlier, Stokes had sledged Samuels when West Indies slipped to 11 for three as they chased down England's total of 155. Stokes was spotted taunting Samuels again when it appeared the West Indian was out - only for replays to show the ball had touched the ground before being collected by Jos Buttler.
England captain Eoin Morgan said of Stokes after the match: “You could say what you like to him at the moment, but he’s probably not hearing a lot. This is not his fault. He is going to be devastated. But we share everything we do.”
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