West Indies Cricket Board upgrade Shamar Joseph's central contract post Gabba heroics

In a recent development, the West Indies cricket board have agreed to offer an improved central contract to right-arm pacer Shamar Joseph following his heroics in the West Indies’ 2nd Test win against Australia at the iconic Gabba stadium in Brisbane earlier this month.

Shamar Joseph was at the heart of everything during the series concluder and played a major role behind the West Indies’ first-ever Test match victory in Australia in 27 years. The 2-time World Champions were aiming to win a red-ball series down under for the first time since 1992/93.

Although that was far from happening as the Aussies had clinched the 1st Test by 10 wickets the Windies were inspired by something. That inspiration came from Rodney Hogg’s comments of the visiting team being extremely pathetic.

The former Australian international’s comments sparked anger as well as a willingness to script history within the West Indies’ camp and they made a fitting response during the Pink ball Test. Their initiation towards doing something special was ignited by knocks from Kavem Hodge, Joshua Da Silva, Kevin Sinclair, and Alzarri Joseph, helping the minnows post 311 in the 1st innings.

It was followed by a decent bowling performance, restricting the Aussies to 289 in which Shamar Joseph accounted for just a single wicket while the experienced Kemar Roach and Alzarri took 3 and 4 wickets respectively. West Indies did not have a very good 2nd innings with the bat but they were able to post 211 as the target.

When it came to the target defense, Shamar Joseph led from the front despite an injured toe from Mitchell Starc’s lethal yorker. The 24-year-old himself admitted after the match that he was not sure about getting to the field but after receiving treatment, Joseph went out there to initially just support before claiming 7/68 in just his 2nd Test match.

He named the wickets of Cameron Green, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. In total, Shamar Joseph stood for 13 wickets in the entire series as he also had a 5-wicket haul on his debut Test in Adelaide.

“It Is Also Dutiful To Elevate Shamar Joseph To A CWI International Retainer Contract”, CWI Director Affirmed

Following his heroics in Gabba and the quality as well as potential he contains, Shamar Joseph has been handed an international retainer contract from the West Indies cricket board. Before the series, the right-arm fast bowler had a franchise contract.

His contract improvement has also been done by CWI to keep him tied to international cricket unlike his seniors Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers among others who snub national duty for the ever-growing franchise T20 leagues.

CWI director Enoch Lewis saw this as a momentous time for the nation and claimed that Shamar Joseph had rightfully earned his new contract.

“As exhilarated as we are, it is also dutiful to elevate Shamar Joseph to a CWI international retainer contract. His extraordinary talent and steadfast dedication serve as the cornerstone of our team’s recent triumph at the Gabba, and such promise merits its due recognition. Shamar has not just been rewarded with a retained contract, he has earned it.” – Lewis said.