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West Indies head coach Darren Sammy has said fast bowler Alzarri Joseph made himself unavailable for the two-Test home series against Pakistan, claiming the pacer declined selection despite being picked in the squad.Cricket West Indies had earlier announced that Joseph would miss the series because of personal reasons. Ahead of the opening Test, Sammy gave more details about the situation.“Yeah, it is a big loss. Mr Joseph has declined selection. That’s the reality of the situation,” Sammy said at a press conference on the eve of the series opener.“He was selected. I mean, he’s now coming back from injury. And for reasons since, he has declined the selection. That is a decision that is way over my head. I leave that with the directors to come up with whatever solutions where contracted players get to decline selection,” said the coach.Joseph featured in both Tests against Sri Lanka in June-July, taking six wickets across the two matches. He also played the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, claiming 4 for 41 in the opening game.Joseph has played 42 Tests for the West Indies and taken 130 wickets. He has represented the Caribbean side across all three formats.Despite missing one of his frontline fast bowlers, Sammy said he remains confident about the attack available for the Pakistan series.The bowling unit includes Shamar Joseph, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales and all-rounders Justin Greaves and Keemo Paul. Spin duties will be handled by Jomel Warrican, rookie Joshua Bishop and captain Roston Chase.“What I could tell you (is that) we have a bowling line-up that we’ve seen that could take 20 wickets. That’s the first start to winning Test matches,” Sammy said when asked whether the West Indies had the bowling strength to challenge Pakistan.“We saw it in New Zealand. We saw it in the Australia series. We matched Australia with the ball. We matched New Zealand with the ball as well. And the confidence and the work that the batters have put in, you could see it bearing fruit in the Test series against Sri Lanka.“You know, much more consistency is coming through. So once we match these two batsmen scoring runs, we know we have the bowling line-up to take 20 wickets and help us win Test matches,” Sammy said.The first Test begins on Saturday (July 25), while the second Test will be played in Port of Spain from August 2.
