Strike bowler Alzarri Joseph means business as he steps into his new role as vice captain of the West Indies team in the upcoming CG United One-Day International Series against England.
Starting on Sunday in his homeland of Antigua, the 27-year-old will be elevated to the position after leading the Leeward Islands Hurricanes to the final of the CG United Super50 Cup last month, which was won by hosts Trinidad & Tobago Red Force.
Joseph said
“My role on the field does not necessarily change, but in terms of the vice-captaincy, I think it’s something that I’ll cherish for a little. For me, it will be about facilitating the captain as much as I can and sharing my advice and seeing how well I can work with him to make the team a lot more successful.”
He was speaking in an interview with CWI Media during training at the venue. Joseph said leading the Leewards was an eye-opening experience, but he had plenty of help from the senior players, which also made his job as the lead fast bowler much easier.
“It was good. I had a lot of guys around me that had captained before, so they helped me to play that role as efficiently as I can, but I also had my own philosophy that I wanted to bring to the team, and the guys really bought in to it,” he said.
“Once you are a bowler, you are your own captain when you have the ball, so for me, it was just about doing my job and asking the rest of the guys to back me up. When I was not bowling, I had to make sure that everyone else was on the right path and executing our plans.”
He is eagerly looking forward to the series especially starting on home soil with family and friends watching. Back in 2016 he was a member of the West Indies Under-19 side that won the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup. He now has 104 wickets at 27.69 apiece from 63 ODIs since making his debut against Pakistan seven years ago in Sharjah. He was philosophical about reaching the milestone and becoming the enforcer in the attack.
“I think it’s going to be a really good series. We have been preparing very well. We are ready, and I think it will be quite entertaining. It’s always special playing on home soil, so I am looking forward to the matches in Antigua, but nothing changes, it’s business as usual. For me, it’s about going out onto the field and performing my role as efficiently as possible,” he said.
“It’s always good to get to those milestones, but the job is not done yet, and there is still a long way to go, so for me, it’s just about getting one per cent better every day,” he said.
SQUADS
West Indies: Shai Hope (captain), Alzarri Joseph (vice captain), Alick Athanaze, Yannic Cariah, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Gudakesh Motie, Kjorn Ottley, Sherfane Rutherford, Romario Shepherd, Oshane Thomas; Daren Sammy (Head Coach)
England: Jos Buttler (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Phil Salt, John Turner; Matthew Mott (Head Coach)
MATCH OFFICIALS
On field umpires: Chris Brown, Gregory Brathwaite
Television umpire: Nitin Menon
Fourth umpire: Nigel Duguid
Match Referee: Sir Richie Richardson
FULL MATCH SCHEDULE
Sunday 3 December: 1st CG United ODI at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua – 9:30am
Wednesday 6 December: 2nd CG United ODI at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua – 1:30pm
Saturday 9 December: 3rd CG United ODI at Kensington Oval, Barbados – 1:30pm