Legendary batter Sir Vivian Richards has openly criticized Daren Sammy’s public handling of Alzarri Joseph's absence from the Test series against Pakistan, calling the West Indies head coach’s statement that the fast bowler "declined selection" unnecessary and a major overreach.
Ahead of the two-Test series at home, Sammy informed the media that Joseph was fully fit following an injury rehab but chose to decline his spot in the Test squad.
The towering pacer hit back, stating he opted out entirely due to personal reasons and slammed Sammy's narrative as "controversial, without context".
West Indies lost the second Test by 8 wickets at Queen's Park Oval, allowing Pakistan to draw the two-match series 1-1.
“This sometimes hampers guys' professional careers, you know. Such statements, if it's not true and stuff like that, a lot of things linger. The two had a great relationship when he was with the St Lucia franchise, so I'm not quite so certain why relations have gone a bit south.
"The relationship, I know, is much bigger than what we hear on the air so it would be of importance to try and rekindle that. We sometimes misstep at times and so long as we have a heart at times, knowing that sometimes the mistakes that we make, we can always put things together and get these guys going again," Richards told Antigua Observer on Wednesday (August 5).
Richards emphasized that if Joseph followed the due process behind closed doors, Sammy's public remarks were completely unwarranted.
“I would like to think that Alzarri, and this is just my opinion, would have made it clear as to exactly what the whole stuff was and how he felt and what he meant and I think there are two sides to the story.
“To get the coach saying – and to me it looks like he (was saying) – he (Alzarri) refused selection, and that's pushing it in my opinion, it's pushing it in a very big way. I'd like to think that Alzarri would have gone about it in the professional way, and so that at least the statement from coach Sammy wasn't really necessary in my opinion,” Richards remarked.
(With IANS Inputs)
