Alzarri Joseph stormed off the field during the opening powerplay of the third ODI of the series between West Indies and England, seemingly fuming with the field he had been given to bowl to.
Joseph opened the bowling alongside Matthew Forde after West Indies won the toss and put England in to bat in Bridgetown, with the pair building pressure immediately. Forde found Will Jacks’ outside edge with the third ball of his second over, leaving England 9-1. When Joseph came on to bowl the next over, there was a long discussion between him and West Indies captain Shai Hope, seemingly about the field Joseph would have for the next over.
After Joseph bowled his first ball, which was steered towards backward point by Jordan Cox, Joseph was visibly unhappy. He stood waving his arms at Hope and the two slips which were in place at the start of the over. After voicing his displeasure, Joseph continued the over, and delivered Cox a snorter of a delivery with his fourth ball, touching 90mph, which Cox attempted to fend off but gloved through to Hope behind the stumps.
The wicket, however, did not improve Joseph’s mood. Towards the end of the over, West Indies’ coach Daren Sammy was seen down on the boundary rope attempting to gesture to Joseph to calm the situation down. Once he had completed the over, Joseph stormed straight off the field and up the stairs to the West Indies dressing room.
The trials and tribulations of Alzarri Joseph…
3.1 overs: fuming at field placement
3.4 overs: bounces out Cox, doesn’t celebrate
End of over: storms off in a huff 😅 pic.twitter.com/Qne366zs1a— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) November 6, 2024
When Joseph didn’t reappear for the next over, sub-fielder Hayden Walsh Jr started to remove his bib to replace him. However, Joseph soon came down the stairs and sat out a few balls in the dugout, leaving West Indies with 10 players on the field, before rejoining at the end of the over. He was taken off bowling duty, however, and Romario Shepherd was brought on.
The switch worked, with Shepherd dismissing Jacob Bethell with his first delivery. Despite the apparent end to the incident, Mark Butcher was vocal on commentary about how the incident was handled on the field.
“Many is the time, as a captain or as a player, that you have a disagreement about something on the field,” said Butcher. “But you work that out either behind closed doors, or you get on with your job. Your captain asks you to bowl to a field, you bowl to it.”
West Indies went on to reduce England to 24-4 by the end of the powerplay, but Joseph did not bowl again inside the first 10, coming back on to bowl the 12th over.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
