10 facts about Samuel Badree: The old school Leg-spinner

Samuel Badree has always been regarded as a wily and old fashioned leg spinner. Despite coming to prominence for the West Indies in a later part of his career, there is something certainly special about Badree’s bowling prowess. While the leg-break spin bowling has become more popular among the youngsters today, Samuel Badree was from the Shane Warne tradition. A magician with the ball and someone who could let you know that the ball is turning even if there wasn’t much turn to begin with. On his 35th birthday, we take a look at a few lesser known facts about the old school leg spinner.

1. Birth:

Samuel Badree was born in Barrackpore in the windy country of Trinidad & Tobago. He was born into an Indo-Trinidadian family.

2. The hand of a leggie:

The late Martin Crowe was a huge fan of leg spinners. Probably, because they were harder to score from during his time. However, in his article ‘The Hand of a Leggie’, Crowe pays respects to leg spinners who have made a  mark for themselves in T20 cricket. He writes, “So hats off to Samuel Badree, Imran Tahir, Amit Mishra, with high recommendations for the youngsters Seekkuge Prasanna and James Muirhead. The first three, in particular, provided the best bowling in the tournament, and easily the best cricket. It was skilful, legal, daring, courageous, all bowling against big bats, small boundaries, and fellow spinners with plenty of elbow grease.”

3. Physical education indeed:

Before making a mark on the world stage, Badree served as a secondary school physical education teacher.

4. The art of leg spin:

In addition to Martin Crowe’s piece on leg spinners, he says that leg spin bowling has perhaps been the only saving grace in an era clamoring for more of the shortest format. He wrote,”The only saving grace for the World T20 extravaganza in Bangladesh has been leg spin. It shone out like a beacon, a bright light amid dim, dull, boring behaviour. The art of leg spin, so often missing in a game of bent proceedings, became the hero that flagged what is, hopefully, a new, genuine future.”

5. On top of the World:

Everyone knows as well as I do that you don’t just walk into the ICC and ask them for the no.1 world ranking in T20I cricket. After just 22 matches and 31 T20I wickets, Badree overhauled compatriot Sunil Narine to become the top ranked T20I bowler in the world.

6. A late blossomer:

Despite rising during the Stanford series in 2006/07, Badree got his chance in the West Indies cricket team only in 2012. He also played an important role in guiding West Indies to the semifinals of the 2014 edition of the World T20.

7. Stanford T20 series watershed:

Badree was part of the Trinidad & Tobago team that beat Middlesex to win a jackpot of US$280,000 in the Stanford Super Series. He took seven wickets in five matches (including 3/6 against the Cayman Islands), which was behind only Guyana’s Narsingh Deonarine overall. HE finished the tournament as the second highest wicket-taker with 10 wickets in the series.

8. A calypso bowling attitude:

The calypso bowling attitude refers to the sleazy and lazy bowling action of the West Indian fast bowlers in the 1970s. However, the threat they carried despite the actions was immense. Samuel Badree carries the same threat while bowling his leg spinners and leg flippers. He is extremely economical and lethal with the ball. He has opened the bowling on several occasions for his IPL franchise, the Chennai Super Kings.

9. Shoulder injuries:

Since his domestic debut in 2001, Badree has been plagued by injuries right through his career. He struggled with a shoulder injury throughout the second half of 2014, which eventually required surgery, and in 2015 contracted dengue fever, which forced him to miss a series against Sri Lanka.

10. International career exploits:

On the back of impressive performances against Bangladesh and New Zealand, Badree, 31 at the time was selected for the 2012 edition of the World T20. He put up stellar performances and went back home with the winning medal.