Dharuba: West Indies head coach Darren Sammy has confirmed that paceman Alsari Joseph has ruled out selection for the two-match Test series against Pakistan, contradicting an earlier report by Cricket West Indies (CWI) citing “personal reasons” for his absence.
While announcing the 15-man squad, CWI said Joseph was unavailable due to personal reasons. However, Sammy revealed that the fast bowler opted out despite being selected.
“Yes, it is a big loss. Mr Joseph refused to be selected. That is the reality of the situation,” Sammy told reporters two days before the opening Test at the Brian Lara Stadium in Taruba.
“He was selected. I mean, he’s coming back from injury now. And for reasons best known to him, he declined the selection.”
Joseph featured in both Tests against Sri Lanka in June and July, taking six wickets in both matches. He also impressed during the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, making figures of 4/41 in the opening win.
Sammy declined to comment further on the reasons behind Joseph’s decision, saying the matter was with the cricket board.
“That’s an over my head decision,” Sammy said.
“I will leave it to the directors what solutions they have to come up with for the contracted players to decline the selection.”
For the Pakistan Test series, West Indies’ pace attack will be led by Shamar Joseph, Kemer Roach and Jayden Seals, while all-rounders Justin Greaves and Keemo Paul provide additional seam options. The spin section includes Jomal Warrigan, non-captain Joshua Bishop and captain Roston Chase.
Despite Joseph’s absence, Sammy expressed confidence in his bowling unit’s ability to bowl Pakistan twice in each Test.
“What I can tell you is that we have a bowling line-up that can take 20 wickets. That is the first step to winning Tests,” Sammy said.
“We saw it in New Zealand. We saw it in the Australia series. We matched Australia with the ball. We also matched New Zealand with the ball.
“And the confidence and hard work shown by the batsmen, you can see it paying off in the Test series against Sri Lanka. There is still a lot of consistency.
“So when we put those two together – if the batsmen get the runs and the bowlers get the wickets – we know we have the bowling line-up to take 20 wickets and win Tests.”
It is to be noted that the two-match series between West Indies and Pakistan as part of the 2025-27 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) will be played from July 25 to July 28 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Dharuba with the first match.
However, the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain will host the next match from August 2 to 6.
West Indies squad for Test series against Pakistan
Roston Chase (c), Jomel Warrican (vc), Joshua Bishop, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Joshua Da Silva, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Shai Hope, Amir Jangoo, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Kirk McKenzie, Keemo Paul, Kemar Roach and Jayden Seales.