Alzarri Joseph brings the fire to Windies attack

Earmarked by many as the long-term successor to Kemar Roach in the West Indies pace attack, Antiguan quick Alzarri Joseph has been a fixture in the West Indies team ever since his starring role in the Caribbean team's run to the International Cricket Council (ICC) under-19 men's World Cup crown in 2016.

Tall, aggressive and business-like in his approach, the 27-year-old Joseph has also been pinpointed as a future leader by Cricket West Indies (CWI), and he was elevated to the role of vice-captain for the June 1-29 Twenty/20 World Cup. Joseph also served as vice-captain for the Windies in their most recent Test and One-day international (ODI) tours to Australia earlier this year.

At the under-19 World Cup in February 2016, Joseph took a team-high 13 wickets, and his fiery spell of three for 39 helped the Windies to a five-wicket win in the final versus India.

Joseph's youth World Cup exploits and his performances at the regional level for Leeward Islands saw debuting for West Indies in the ODI and Test formats in 2016. Joseph's T20 debut for West Indies came six years after his first international match in maroon, when the Caribbean team played India at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy (BLCA) in Tarouba, Trinidad in July 2022.

Long before his first international game in the shortest format, though, Joseph showed the world his capabilities in the T20 game when he took remarkable figures of six for 12 for Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers Hyderabad on his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut in April 2019. Joseph has featured in over 20 matches across four IPL seasons, and his rapid spell at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium remains the best bowling figures in the history of the tournament.

Joseph has played 22 T20 matches for West Indies, accounting for 35 wickets at a strike rate of 14.4. Following his T20 debut versus India, Joseph played six more matches before being selected for the West Indies team which contested the 2022 T20 World Cup qualifying phase against Ireland, Scotland and Zimbabwe in October 2022.

West Indies failed to advance to the main draw of the 2022 edition after losing to Scotland and Ireland in the qualifiers, but Joseph shone with the ball in the second match when he bowled his team to victory with a spell of four for 16 versus Zimbabwe in Hobart.

In March 2023, Joseph grabbed his first five-wicket T20 haul for West Indies when he returned figures of five for 40 against South Africa in a series-deciding match in Johannesburg. Last year, the Caribbean team defeated South Africa 2-1 and also sealed 3-2 series wins against India and reigning T20 World Cup champions England as the team experienced a resurgence under captain Rovman Powell.

Alongside his namesake Shamar Joseph, the no-nonsense Alzarri will be expected to work wonders with the new ball at the upcoming T20 World Cup.