3 min readAug 5, 2026 08:29 PM IST
Legendary West Indies player Vivian Richards has urged West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph and head coach Daren Sammy to mend fences after the recent public controversy. Last week, Sammy had told the media that the fast bowler had “declined selection,” for the ongoing Test series against Pakistan claiming he had been picked after recovering from injury but chose not to play. Joseph, however, insists he had already spoken to both Sammy and the board about his decision to skip the series.
“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 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.
Last week Cricket West Indies had announced that Joseph was unavailable due to personal reasons but Sammy said that the decision to not have him in the team is “way over my head”.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show on Antigua Observer, Joseph made it clear that Sammy knew exactly what he was doing when he made those remarks.
“We had a chat, myself and the head coach. I’ve also had a chat with CWI and if you realise the statement CWI released said personal reasons. Mr Sammy, being around for a long time, he knows exactly what that statement would have done. So to be honest, I have nothing to say to Mr Sammy in terms of his statement. Like I said, he knows exactly what that statement would have done and the narrative it would have pushed in the public.”
