By Neto Baptiste
Amidst questions over the decision not to use the services of fast bowler Shamar Joseph by the Daren Sammy-led management team during the senior men’s participation in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, one former player is commenting that the Guyanese quick should not have been included in the squad in the first instance.
Joseph made an appearance for the regional squad during their warm up match against Australia in Trinidad in late May, ending with one for 31 in two overs, but former West Indies fast bowler, Kenneth Benjamin, said the fast bowler, in his opinion, has not yest earned a place in the squad.
“Quite frankly, I don’t think that Shamar Joseph should have been in the team, so my answer is definitely no. The thing about it is that, he hasn’t really done anything to convince me that he even understands what is required and I don’t think he even has the skillsets as yet to come and bowl in these types of situations. He may very well be a world-beater but this is a World Cup and to put him in this pressure state because … we were under the gun and we wanted to get out of the qualifying stages and once you get into the qualifying stages, you lost your first game to England so the two other games are must wins, so I don’t see where I would have played a rookie,” he said.
West Indies exited the tournament on Sunday following a three-wicket Duckworth-Lewis-Stern loss to South Africa here at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at North Sound. Some pundits opined that the wicket at the venue was conducive for fast bowling and that Joseph should have been considered.
Benjamin added that some, including the lead selector and coach, may have gotten caught up in the euphoria of Joseph’s performance after his heroics in the Gabba Test against Australia in February, gave West Indies its first win on Australian soil in more than two decades.
“I think Desmond Haynes and Daren Sammy were just too emotional and excited that we have him and they were probably thinking that if they don’t select him that people were going to ask why he wasn’t selected. If you look at who we had left and so forth, I wouldn’t have selected [him]; I can’t see on what basis I would have selected Shamar Joseph for this World Cup,” he said.
In February, Joseph shocked the cricket world when he claimed seven for 68 to lead the West Indies to a historic Test victory over Australia at the Gabba. His effort followed a historic five-wicket haul in his first Test match in Adelaide, where he dismissed Steven Smith with the opening delivery of the match.
However, the Guyanese fast bowler endured a poor run in his first IPL season with the Lucknow Super Giants where he went wicketless in three matches while going for a total of 119 runs from a total of 12 overs.
