MELBOURNE, Australia (CMC):
West Indies white-ball head coach Daren Sammy says he looks forward to having fast bowler Shamar Joseph in his squad once he has recovered from injury.
Sammy said the heroics of the 24-year-old fast bowler in the two-Test series against hosts and world champions Australia created a selection headache for the Caribbean side.
He felt Joseph had the potential to become an all-formats player, and he will come into the reckoning for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup, which will be staged this coming June in the Caribbean and the United States.
“He will definitely be an all-format player,” Sammy said in an interview with the ESPNcricinfo website. “I can’t wait to get my hands on him in this squad.
“But look, everything has a process to it. That’s the way myself and the chairman of selectors operate. What he’s done, he’s created a really good headache for me with the World Cup coming up, building forward in the ODI team.
“We got other guys, like Jayden Seales, who’s injured at the moment. So we’re developing a core in all formats that enables us to pick from good positions guys that are performing, and that’s what you want as a cricketing nation.”
Joseph grabbed the attention of the world last Sunday when he took seven for 68 to inspire West Indies to a historic eight-run win against the Australians in the second Test at the Gabba in Brisbane.
It followed a five-wicket haul in his debut Test in Adelaide, which included dismissing Steven Smith with his first ball in Tests, and he earned the Player-of-the-Series award for his performances.
Joseph has appeared in only two List A 50 overs matches for Guyana Harpy Eagles in the West Indies Super50 Cup, and two official Twenty20 matches for the reigning Caribbean Premier League champions, Guyana Amazon Warriors.
He was therefore not included in the West Indies squad for the series of three One-day Internationals, which open today (late Thursday Jamaica time) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, nor the series of three Twenty20 Internationals, which opens next Friday at Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
There was a temptation for Sammy and lead selector Desmond Haynes to ask him to remain Down Under, but the toe injury he sustained during the second Test when he was struck by a yorker from left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc while batting prompted them to allow him to return home and recuperate.
“We’ll ride the wave that’s happening there, but we won’t go crazy,” Sammy said. “If the guy’s injured, let him go home and rest.
“That’s probably the first time he’s been away from home for so long. He’s got a young family, so we understand. Whatever we do is well planned and well thought out.”
Sammy will get a chance to work with Joseph once the fast bowler from the remote village of Baracara in Guyana takes up his contract in a few weeks with Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League, where Sammy is the coach.