Alzarri Joseph "declined selection" for Pakistan Tests, reveals Sammy
West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has revealed that fast bowler Alzarri Joseph "declined selection" for the two-match Test series against Pakistan.
"Yeah, it is a big loss," Sammy said in a media interaction. "Mr Joseph has declined selection. That's the reality of the situation. He was selected. I mean, he's now coming [back] from injury. And for reasons since, he has declined the selection.
"That is a decision that is way over my head," Sammy added. "I leave that with the directors to come up with whatever solutions where contracted players get to decline selection."
When West Indies announced the squad, the press release stated that Joseph was unavailable due to personal reasons.
The 29-year-old recently missed the tours of India and New Zealand due to a lower back injury but made his comeback in the Test series against Sri Lanka, where he picked six wickets across two matches. He then featured in the five-match ODI series against New Zealand before pulling out of West Indies's next assignment against Pakistan.
Sammy, though, remained optimistic of the hosts' chances against Pakistan.
"What I could tell you [is that] we have a bowling line-up that we've seen that could take 20 wickets," Sammy said. "That's the first start to winning Test matches. 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 the work that the batters have put in, you could see it bearing fruit in the Test series against Sri Lanka. You know, much more consistency coming through. So once we match these two, batsmen scoring runs, we know we have the bowling line-up to take 20 wickets and help us win Test matches.
"We could see some light coming through, especially with the Sri Lanka series. Now we have Pakistan. Looking at the world rankings, we're probably four or five points behind getting into the top six of the table. The team knows what we're looking to achieve. And each player understands the role that they're playing in us achieving that."
