West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has responded to comments made by Daren Sammy that he “declined selection” for the ongoing Test series against Pakistan, saying the coach’s statement was “controversial” and “without context.”
In a press release confirming the team ahead of the series, CWI stated that Joseph was “unavailable for selection due to personal reasons.” However, when addressing the Antiguan’s absence, Sammy declared, “Mr. Joseph has declined selection.”
Joseph, in the meantime, now says he had conversations with both Cricket West Indies and Sammy while deciding on his unavailability.
“We had a chat, I and the head coach. I’ve also had a chat with CWI, and if you realize the statement CWI released said ‘personal reasons'," Joseph began to explain on the Good Morning Jojo Sport Show earlier this week.
“I’ve been out for an entire year. I haven’t played at international intensity for so long after having a second stress fracture. We spoke about me playing the two Test matches here, playing five back-to-back ODIs, and how my body was feeling, and I knew my body was not ready to go into another Test series. So, the statement in itself is controversial, without context,” he expounded.
Pakistan players Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Abbas have been charged for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the first match of their ICC World Test Championship series against the West Indies in Tarouba.
Khurram was fined 15 per cent of his match fee while Abbas was handed an official reprimand for breaching Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an International Match.”
Khurram was penalized for “celebrating aggressively close” after bowling Shai Hope in the West Indies' second innings on Day 3. The seamer's actions were deemed “capable of provoking an aggressive reaction."
Just hours after their 90-run victory over Pakistan on what would have been The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers’ 90th birthday, the Barbadian members of the West Indies Senior Men’s Test team will return home, with the assistance of the Government of Barbados, to attend the cricketing icon’s State Funeral.
Captain Roston Chase, vice-captain Jomel Warrican, white-ball captain Shai Hope, Justin Greaves, Kemar Roach, Joshua Bishop and assistant coach Floyd Reifer will join a Cricket West Indies (CWI) delegation comprising President Dr. The Hon. Kishore Shallow, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Chris Dehring; along with CWI Directors Mr. Enoch Lewis, President of the Leeward Islands Cricket Board; Mr. Bissoondyal Singh, President of the Guyana Cricket Board; and Mr. Clement Marcellin, President of the Windward Islands Cricket Board.
“The opportunity for our Barbadian representatives to be present at the state funeral of The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers is a deeply meaningful one for West Indies cricket. On a day when the cricketing world celebrated his extraordinary life, the team honoured his enduring legacy with a performance that reflected the courage, resilience, and skill that defined his remarkable career and inspired generations,” said CWI President, Dr. Shallow.
“We are deeply grateful to Prime Minister the Hon. Mia Amor Mottley and her Government for making this possible, and reaffirm our commitment to preserving the memory of a true icon whose name will forever be synonymous with the greatness of West Indies cricket.”
West Indies 311 & 181 (Joseph 38, Chanderpaul 35; Abbas 5-22) beat Pakistan 282 & 120 (Babar 58*, Abbas 23; Seales 5-20) by 90 runs
The West Indies christened the Brian Lara Cricket Academy with a comprehensive 90-run win over Pakistan in the first-ever Test match at the venue to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.
Hometown hero Jayden Seales was skilful, accurate, and miserly in a spell of 5 for 20 that helped Windies skittle the visitors as they defended 211 in the low-scoring affair, earning the result inside four days.
For the first time in the Caribbean, all forty wickets in a two-match series fell to seamers. After batting for just over an hour on the day, the West Indian quicks took no time to settle in the fourth innings, quickly reducing Pakistan to 25 for 3 in the second half of the morning session.
The procession of wickets continued, with captain Babar Azam being the lone source of Pakistani resistance. We can only speculate just how the disruption of the batting order affected them.
Resident No. 3 Shan Masood was forced to bat at No. 8, nursing a fractured finger suffered in the first innings from Seales. It wasn’t until No. 11 Mohammad Abbas walked to the crease that the Windies bowlers were made to try something different.
Reflecting on the life and times of Garfield St. Aubyn Sobers, I cannot help but feel that all who saw him play cricket were blessed and privileged to have seen him. I can also say without fear of contradiction that I saw cricket the way cricket should have been played and that I would never see anyone else play cricket like that again.
In explaining cricket to someone who has never seen a cricket match, one would say that there are three major aspects to the game: batting, bowling, and fielding; that bowling can be either fast or spin; and that spin can be either finger or wrist. Sobers is the only cricketer in the history of the game who mastered batting and every type of bowling, as well as all the different aspects of fielding. Many of us are familiar with the saying, “Jack of all trades and master of none,” but Sobers was the Master of All Trades!
Even if he was on an opposing team to yours, one could not help but enjoy his presence on the field. What was even more endearing to all who saw cricket was that he played the game with such joy and grace that you could not keep your eyes off him. He filled us with a sense of satisfaction such as in the taste of a perfect glass of wine, the sounds of a Bach symphony, or the tones of an aria by Pavarotti.
In short, Sir Garry was to cricket what William Shakespeare was to literature.
