During the final quarter of the innings at Bridgetown, Joseph was unhappy with a fielding and could be seen protesting with Hope. On the fourth ball, Joseph removed Jordan Cox caught behind, but did not celebrate with his team, but immediately returned to his mark. At the end of the over, Joseph left the field without warning and entered the dressing room, forcing West Indies to start the fifth over with only ten fielders on the field.
“Behaviour like this is unacceptable on my cricket ground,” Sammy told talkSPORT after the match. “We’ll be friends… but in the culture I’m trying to build, that’s unacceptable. We’ll definitely chat about it.”
Joseph returned to the field at the start of the sixth over, but did not bowl again until the 12th over. He bowled two more overs, before leaving the field again after two errors in his bowling which saw England gain two runs through demolitions. He returned later to bowl two more at mid-on and the remaining three at the death.
Joseph finished the match with figures of 2 for 45 from his 10 overs after dismissing Cox and Dan Mousley.
Sammy, who was appointed head coach of the West Indies in May 2023, is widely recognized for his man-management skills and has convinced a number of players, such as Andre Russell and Evin Lewis, to return to the international game.
“I pride myself on having difficult conversations,” Sammy said. “But in a way that everyone understands what needs to be done. Seeing the guys come out and slowly progress in the right direction makes me proud.”
“There’s still a lot of work to do, but it’s something I’m passionate about.”
West Indies won the ODI series 2-1 and the five-match T20 series begins on Saturday, with Sammy hinting that some of the star names who were absent in their recent series against Sri Lanka, such as Nicholas Pooran and Akeal Hosein, are ready . to return.
“We have a couple of senior players who weren’t in Sri Lanka and we hope they come back,” Sammy said. “Our T20 team is our most successful team and our most established team. So, yes, we brought in some new guys to give them that exposure, but our T20 team usually picks itself.”
