Former West Indies great sir Vivian Richards has stepped into the growing rift between West Indies coach Daren Sammy and pacer Alzarri Joseph, urging both to bury the hatchet.
The controversy erupted after Joseph pulled out of the ongoing Pakistan Test series citing personal reasons, prompting Sammy to say he had “declined selection.” Joseph hit back, calling the remark “controversial” and lacking context. Richards weighed in, insisting the coach’s public comments “weren’t really necessary” and stressing that the duo shared a strong bond during their St Lucia Kings days. The legend warned such fallouts can hurt careers and urged both to rebuild trust quickly.
Richards calls out Sammy’s remarks on Alzaari Joseph
“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,” said Richards to local news outlet Antigua Observer.
“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,” he added.
What happened in the Pakistan vs West Indies Test series?
West Indies won the first Test but Pakistan bounced back in style with the win the in the second Test as the series came to a 1-1 draw. This was Pakistan’s first away Test win in three years and first for Babar Azam since returning as Test captain, replacing Shan Masood. Under Babar, Pakistan have won nine out 12 away Tests, though mostly against West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and Sri Lanka, it is the best record for any captain to have led in 10 or more away Tests.