West Indies legend Sir Curtly Ambrose has admitted to some level of disappointment with the performance of young fast bowler Alzarri Joseph in the recently concluded series loss to England.
The 23-year-old was tipped for a breakthrough performance ahead of the England series, but that promised failed to materialise. Joseph had several bright spells of bowling when the teams met in the Caribbean last year, but in the rematch on English soil, these were few and far between.
Joseph claimed figures of 2 for 98 in the first Test, before getting 1 for 84 in the second Test. He was replaced in the final Test by off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall.
Ambrose, himself once one of the world’s premier fast bowlers, believes the young West Indian may have been guilty of being too passive.
“I was a little bit disappointed with the performance of Alzarri Joseph. The pitches they played on, obviously, they were not the quickest, but as a fast bowler, you can’t be telling yourself that boy, it’s a slow pitch so I am just going to amble in and put it on a spot, no. Whether a pitch is fast or slow, you as a fast bowler have to put out your best, and Alzarri, to me, he was bowling within himself and not looking to bowl fast,” Ambrose told the Antigua Observer.
“Alzarri Joseph is not a put-on-a-spot, hold-up-one-end type of bowler. Jason Holder, the captain, can do that. He can’t really bowl fast, but he can come at one end and put it on a spot and swing it around, seam it around and get a couple of wickets, but Alzarri is a guy who has to run in and bowl fast, look to rough up batsmen. He will look to get wickets obviously, but rough batsmen up and let them know that ‘I am here’.”