Daren Sammy lambasts Alzarri Joseph’s on-field behaviour by labeling it as “unacceptable” amid series victory.
Daren Sammy, the West Indies head coach has not minced his words after an incident involving pacer Alzarri Joseph.
In Bridgetown, Joseph was observed arguing with Hope over a field placement during the fourth over of the innings. Joseph got Jordan Cox behind off the fourth ball, but instead of celebrating with his team, he went straight back to his mark. West Indies had to start the fifth over with just ten fielders on the pitch as Joseph abruptly departed the ground at the end of the over and went into the dressing room.
“Behaviour like that is unacceptable on my cricket field,” Sammy said to TalkSPORT after play. “We will be friends…but in the culture I’m trying to build, that’s unacceptable. We will definitely have a chat about that.”
Joseph didn’t start bowling again until the twelfth over. However, he did return to the field for the start of the sixth. After two misfields off his bowling gave England two runs through overthrows, he bowled two more overs before leaving the pitch once more. Later, he came back to bowl his final three in the dying stages and two more in the middle overs.
After getting rid of Cox and Dan Mousley, Joseph finished with figures of 2 for 45 from his 10 overs.
“I pride myself on having the difficult conversations,” Sammy said. “But in a way that everybody understands what is needed to be done. To see guys going out there and slowly progressing in the right direction makes me proud.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s one that I’m quite passionate about.”
The five-match T20 series starts on Saturday after West Indies won the ODI series 2-1. Sammy has hinted that several of the top players who missed their most recent series against Sri Lanka, such Nicholas Pooran and Akeal Hosein, will be back.
“We’ve got a couple of senior players who were not in Sri Lanka that we expect to be back,” Sammy said. “Our T20 team is our most successful team and our most settled team. So, yes, we incorporate some new guys to give them that exposure, but our T20 team normally picks itself.”