By Michaelangelo Jacobus
If you’re Guyanese and you love cricket, chances are four years ago you would not know who Shamar Joseph was, but now, he’s all everyone, seasonal and diehard fans alike are talking about. His rise through the levels of cricket has been nothing short of meteoric, as he only made his first class debut last year for the Guyana Harpy Eagles, was called up to the Guyana Amazon Warriors squad during CPL after being a net bowler and now, selected to represent West Indies at the international test cricket level.
He played five matches taking 21 wickets at an average of 21.80 before claiming 12 scalps during the recent West Indies A tour of South Africa. Among those 12 scalps, Joseph snared a five-wicket haul in Bloemfontein in the last innings of the four-day match.
On Tuesday night, the entire population of Joseph’s home village, Baracara in the Canje River, was likely tuned to their television sets to see their hero make his test cricket debut against the World Test Championship holders Australia. After the hosts won the toss and inserted the West Indies to bat, they did not have long to wait to see Joseph stride on to the pitch albeit with bat in hand. The West Indies with the exception of youngster Kirk McKenzie (50) collapsed spectacularly in the face of impressive seam bowling from Australian captain Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.