West Indies pacer ‘refused to be selected’ for Pakistan Test series, coach Darren Sammy calls it ‘reality of the situation’ | Cricket News
The head coach of the West Indies Darren Sammy said fast bowler Alzarri Joseph made himself unavailable for the two-Test home series against Pakistan, claiming that the pacer refused selection despite being picked in the squad.Cricket West Indies had previously announced that Joseph would miss the series due to personal reasons. Before the opening of the Test, Sammy gave more details about the situation.“Yeah, it is a big loss. Mr. Joseph has declined selection. That’s the reality of the situation,” said Sammy in a press conference on the eve of the opening of the series.“He was selected. I mean, he came back from injury. And for reasons since then, he refused to be selected. That was a decision that went over my head. I will leave that to the directors to come up with any solutions where the contracted players can get the refusal to choose,” said the coach.Joseph appeared in two Tests against Sri Lanka in June–July, taking six wickets in two matches. He also played in the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, taking 4 for 41 in the opening game.Joseph played 42 Tests for the West Indies and took 130 wickets. He has represented the Caribbean side in all three formats.Despite missing one of his frontline fast bowlers, Sammy said he remains confident about the attack being available for the Pakistan series.The bowling unit includes Shamar Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and all-rounders Justin Greaves and Keemo Paul. The spin duties will be handled by Jomel Warrican, rookie Joshua Bishop and captain Roston Chase.“What I can tell you (is) we’ve got a bowling line-up that we see that can take 20 wickets. That’s the first start to win Test matches,” Sammy said when asked if West Indies have the bowling power to challenge Pakistan.“We saw it in New Zealand. We saw it in the Australia series. We matched Australia with the ball. We matched New Zealand with the ball as well. And the confidence and work put in by the batters, you could see it paying off in the Test series against Sri Lanka.“You know, more consistency will come. So once we match these two batsmen who are scoring runs, we know we have the bowling line-up to take 20 wickets and help us win Test matches,” said Sammy.The first Test starts on Saturday (July 25), while the second Test will be played in Port of Spain from August 2.
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