Sammy Calls Joseph's Behavior 'Unacceptable' During Third ODI

West Indies head coach Daren Sammy has called Alzarri Joseph’s behaviour during the third and final ODI against England “unacceptable” after the pacer left the pitch following contretemps with skipper Shapi Hope. 

On Tuesday during the fourth over of the match, the lanky pacer was unhappy with a field placement and could be seen protesting with Hope. Off the fourth ball, Josepth removed Jordan Cox, but did not celebrate the wicket with his team instead immediately ran back to his bowling mark. After that over, Joseph left the field unannounced and went into the dressing room, forcing the hosts to commence the fifth over with only ten men on the field. 

Behaviour like that is unacceptable on my cricket field," Sammy said to TalkSPORT. "We will be friends…but in the culture I'm trying to build, that's unacceptable. We will definitely have a chat about that."

Joseph headed back to the field for the start of the sixth over but did not resume bowling until the 12th. He then bowled two more overs, before leaving the play following two misfields off his bowling that resulted in two runs via overthrows for England. He returned later to bowl two overs in the middle overs and the remaining three in the death. 

Joseph ended the match with figures of 2/45. His scalps included Cox and Dan Mousley. 

Sammy, who was named as West Indies head coach in May 2023, is widely praised for his man-management abilities and has convinced numerous players like Andre Russell and Evin Lewis to return to the international scene. 

"I pride myself on having the difficult conversations," Sammy said. "But in a way that everybody understands what is needed to be done. To see guys going out there and slowly progressing in the right direction makes me proud.

"There's still a lot of work to be done, but it's one that I'm quite passionate about."

West Indies won the ODI series 2-1 and the five-match T20I leg starts this Saturday, with Sammy hinting at some of the big names who were unavailable from their recent series against Sri Lanka, like Nicholas Pooran and Akeal Hosein, are set to return.

“We've got a couple of senior players who were not in Sri Lanka that we expect to be back," Sammy said. "Our T20 team is our most successful team and our most settled team. So, yes, we incorporate some new guys to give them that exposure, but our T20 team normally picks itself."