 Yeah, boarding off this Thursday edition of the Sports Mag Zone with Cricket following his superb player of the series turn in Australia, Shamar Joseph is still making headlines ahead of the West Indies three-match ODI campaign set to begin tonight. Caribbean Time at the Melbourne Cricket Ground MCG, Cricket West Indies, announced earlier today that the 24-year-old's regional franchise contract has been upgraded to an international retainer in recognition of his superb efforts down under. In the meantime, Windows white-ball coach Darren Sammy spoke glowingly about the test series hero and his chances of breaking into the squad for the shorter formats of the game. Speaking to ESPN Cricketfo, this is what Sammy had to say, he will definitely be an all-format player. I can't wait to get my hands on him in this squad. But look, everything has a process to it. That's the way myself and the chairman of selectors operate. What he's done is he's created a really good headache for me with the World Cup coming up, building forward in the ODI team. Sammy continued, we ride the wave that's happening there, but we won't go crazy if the guys injured, let him go home and rest. That's probably the first time he's been away from home for so long. He's got a young family so we understand whatever we do is well planned and well thought out. I think going home to his family, enjoying this moment is important because pictures like that don't come around all the time. It's important that you enjoy these moments, savor it so that it keeps you motivated to have more moments like that. The West Indies white ball coach Darren Sammy speaking there about the test hero Shamar Joseph, the former West Indies captain of course selected Joseph as a replacement in this squad for Peshashore Zalme in the Pakistan Super League which begins in a little over a fortnight despite Joseph not being selected in either white ball squad in Australia although the understanding is he would have been asked to remain in Australia if not for the toe injury that he got. So very important of course Darren Sammy, the coach of the Zalme team in the PSL. Let's get Fazir Mohammed involved in this conversation. Because unprecedented because I don't know if in the history of awarding contracts in West Indies cricket we have seen in the middle of a contract period that a player gets upgraded from anything much less moving from no international contract to an international contract. Of course all he had before was a franchise deal. Your thoughts? You're right I don't recall this ever happening but you can understand why you can understand why especially not just because of his phenomenal achievements but for the fact of all of these franchises looking around so there would obviously be a level of urgency even desperation to get him signed on to a retainer contract that allows some form of discussion with cricket West Indies and I think that's so very important which is why I was so delighted to hear your interview with Ian Bishop because I think Ian as someone who's played the game at the highest level knows what it is to be an out and out fast baller what can happen in relation to injuries and I thought he made a very very relevant point that I wasn't thinking of at all that yes it's all going to play as many franchise tournaments boost up your revenue and whatever else without getting injured but it could work against your pace that you could lose those energy levels that has you from being a tear away fast baller frightening the lives out of the best batters in the world to someone who's good very good but still lacking in that world pace and I think that's very very important so I would hope that this is a template not just for Shamar Joseph but moving forward that there is that understanding that one players have to earn a living they have short lifespans as far as the peak of their careers but also it's about managing it effectively to ensure that not just Shamar Joseph Alzari Joseph Jayden Seales anyone else who comes up I heard Ian talking about a young fast baller also from Babis who's from a very poor community who has tried his best for them to get an opportunity with Guyana with the franchise it hasn't happened as yet so this is really where you need to listen to players to individuals who've been there who've done that who could offer that sort of advice yeah very much the case and I get the feeling that cricket West Indies and the West Indies Players Association are starting to understand the importance of this just coming out of the MOU that they signed it recently and if you look at the recent trend as well this administration has been more willing I would say to let players go and play in franchise leagues we are going to speak about the one-day international series coming up against Australia but the captain Shay Hope Darren Sammy as well the head coach have been preaching the importance of building squad depth because it is in having squad depth that you will be able to allow players to consistently go and play in these franchise leagues while being relatively confident that the players you do have can perform well at the highest level absolutely to be fair I don't think any cricket West Indies administration has ever attempted to prevent a player from signing on to one of these franchises so it's not like as we've seen in Pakistan where players are refused no objection clauses nor to their contract we don't see that happening thankfully in the Caribbean because we simply can't compete but I think what you see now and this is I think more to your point a level of a willingness to discuss remember what happened that that infamous occasion in 2014 when when we had signed on to an arrangement to a lot of players earnings to go towards the regional first-class cricket and the prominent players didn't know anything about it and it resulted in the abandonment of the Indian talk of 2014 and all the bad blood around that time so yes it's about having a mature discussion not a discussion that says I am in charge and this is what I'm offering you it's a discussion that says okay this is the lay of the land gentlemen ladies what do we do about it yeah and just to get back to the Shamar Joseph discussion because the white bald head coach and I've been quite keen to hear from someone like a Darren Sammy on how he sees the future of this young man in limited-overs cricket so based on his performances in Australia absolutely no doubt he has a future in test cricket but limited-overs cricket now and Darren Sammy is saying yes we have a problem a good problem but a problem nonetheless because we now have to look at this young man for the T20 World Cup do you feel Darren Sammy is saying the right things on this matter I believe he is and you know I have to say Ricardo or I am not I'm almost really I'm almost relieved for Shamar that if he's not on the boat already that he's on the boat back to Barakara pretty soon because that is his home base these are the people who really matter to him and you're going to get a lot of people even as from the media piling in wanting to get a piece of the action wanting to claim a bit of him and so on claim some credit and the other thankfully Brandon Colek was the first off the boat to get to Barakara from Babishan himself to have that interview with him on his podcast and so on so yes it's really a time when there's gonna be so much noise so much interest most of it well meaning but a lot of it exploitative as well so we need to be mindful of that and maybe it's the best thing that he's gonna be back at home with his family with his uncles talking about the experience while all of this goes on yeah fast we're not trying in any way to take any credit for Shamar Joseph's performances but we are trying to get an interview with him and guess who is leading that charge is it you no it's not it's the one and only Mariah Ramarack oh thanks for telling everybody alright fast so it's my time to question you so of course you know I'm looking at everything and while you're I was following the discussion with you and Ricardo about Shamar really just getting back home I think you know yes it's very very necessary because you know even having discussions with my own sister when you do well everybody as you said wants a piece of the action right it's like you're being pulled and talked in different directions and sometimes you're just not sure what comes next and I think sometimes that can also have a negative effect on you and we spoke about it on this show I think it was yesterday where the next time you know he suits up for the team he can also it can be negative in the sense that he feels as if the job is again in his hands to of course deliver with the ball and with the bat because we saw potential from him also with the bat you mentioned you know it's so so important that he gets back to the family as he gets ready for the PSL in a bit do you think that we'll be seeing the same sort of Shamar that we saw in that test series or do you think he's gonna based on what we saw with his confidence and his his approach that you know we'll get a more measured performance well Shamar Shamar I think what you see is someone who rejoices in being in this environment who revels in the limelight we saw that early on with the bow when he got that five-bucket hole in Adelaide and more than likely you're gonna see similar sorts of showmanship when the PSL kicks in and he's playing playing for Peshawar's army but I think more than anything else we want to see someone who enjoys what he's doing the moment it becomes burdensome the moment it becomes the book you can't turn left right or center without someone shoving a camera in your face shoving a microphone in your face wanting a signature wanting an autograph it can be too much and I think that's where the managing of the situation comes in and having those around him to advise him properly because it is quite possible that some can all around it and get carried away with it and then get greedy with it I hope not and I expect that they won't because they seem very well grounded because you can almost want everything right away and and that is where that measured sort of advice people like Ian Bishop who's been there a Brian Lara who's had his own experiences Brian Lara famously mentioned a year after his world record year of 2014 sorry 1994 I'm getting carried away 1994 he said the cricket was ruining his life and he walked away from the West and his team on tour of England in 2015 yes because of the the pressures that were being put on him 95 years his use now 95 fires not 94 that he had those records and the year after 1995 you're correct when he said the cricket was ruining his life so it's important that we put these things in perspective and understand that as much as everybody wants a piece of Shamar Joseph or anyone else that these are human beings with their own that they've already had their own lives established already let them enjoy being with their own friends and family and and then revel in the atmosphere once more when the time comes yeah because that's exactly what motivates them and spurs them on so tonight on Sports Max we have the first ODI of three ODIs Farz talk to me about that how are you feeling as we get ready for this ODI because everybody's acting as if it's the same team that played in the test is going to be suiting up for the ODI no no no two different formats two different teams just so sorry Joseph joining the ODI set up what are we to expect from our ODI team well let's hope that the team can carry the form that they finished up last year into this series because again as I was pointed out in the introduction Western is an Australia hardly ever meet in one day internationals they played a tri-series in 2016 together with South Africa in the Caribbean where the West cities reached the final against Australia and lost since then they've only met four times a World Cup of course there was no World Cup for the West cities this time around when Australia lifted the title there was a three-march series in the Caribbean in 2021 which Australia won 2-1 that's the last time that they would have played so there's an even though they they met just a few days ago in test match cricket there's an element of the unknown here because again that number 27 which you also mentioned in the introduction West cities on the non-Australian team in an ODI in Australia for 27 years and you're seeing a number of different players not just in the West cities team but in the Australian team you don't have this spare head of their bowling attack that won the World Cup this time around so they like the West cities are doing a feeling out process as they prepare their team for defense of the title in 2027 and in the West cities case to at least try and qualify for the World Cup in 2027. Yeah Fazz Shea Hope's batting in ODI cricket has been exemplary and as far as the batting rankings are concerned he comes into this series as the most accomplished batsman on either team. How much pressure is there on Shea Hope to deliver here and will he need the support of some of the other young guns like Athene's and company to support whatever effort he's able to deliver. I don't know the sense that Shea Hope feels that pressure too much of anything you would often find that we tend to see times sometimes lands someone is burdened by captaincy and it gets the better of them they struggle to perform. Drew Root was a classic example for England when he lost the captaincy. Look how Ben Stokes is reveling in Shea Hope is not that expressive type of personality but he seems to enjoy his role as captain he seems to enjoy batting at number four or maybe opening the batting again because there's no Brandon King this time around so there'll be some shuffling around of the order and yes it's automatic that you need the support from others. No one player can ever win a cricket match either batting or bowling because there's got to be support from the other end. Yes someone might score the most runs someone might take nearly all the wickets but there still has to be support from the other end. So yes it's important for Athene's it's important if other players like Teddy Bishop would brand new to this level of the game if someone with a test squad Justin Graves somewhere with the squad but didn't play like David Imlak if they're given opportunities this is their chance to really stick a clean for a consistent spot in a West Indies one day side. Yeah and fast as we look to the under 19 World Cup fixture the West Indies boys have against the Aussies on Friday which will be critical to their semifinal hopes and the euphoria of Shamar Joseph. Do you get a sense that this ODI assignment for this West Indies team with Shea Hope and his team there is a recognition on their part that the team is in a position to propel itself beyond what we have seen for decades because we know that success is something that triggers a lot of things including improving the product of West Indies cricket which has a lot to do with the marketing of the team because I think part of the CWI struggles with getting the kind of financial backing and sponsorship for West Indies cricket I don't think we can deny that the lack of success for the team has impacted that. Do you think the team feels motivated at the moment by what happened in Brisbane and their opportunity to keep that going. I think Shea Hope said so in one of his early interviews and it's inevitable I mean and you know Lance Mariah and Ricardo it really reinforces the stature of test match cricket because West Indies have had successes in other formats but look at the reaction to winning a test match in Australia and because of that there's almost an aura now previously it would have been well you know maybe they want to save our environment maybe the T20 squad will rescue some pride for us after being annihilated in a test series. Now it's a different situation and now they are expected to carry it forward it's not automatic because it's Australia you're playing against any opponent that you're going to be playing against will be looking to get the better of you because they have their own agendas so yes it feels like a euphoric time but it's a time when those involved those in the middle those who go out this afternoon Melbourne time to get into action should not lose their focus on their individual and collective priorities to perform to their best in the colours of the West Indies. Fazz thanks for talking to us as usual and we are all as cricket fans getting ready to watch this first ODI it comes up live on Sportsmax at 11 30 Eastern Caribbean time 10 30 in Jamaica and that's certainly early enough for 95% of us to be watching. Thanks Fazz. Maybe for aging people like myself it's becoming a challenge but given the euphoria I'll stay away. Yeah I know you will Fazz that for sure and we'll talk about it tomorrow. Don't leave us at the moment coming up after the break we have Sean Bridge Mahon one of the most successful Caribbean riders in the history of a horse racing in the USA along with the Barbadian Patrick husbands well over 3000 wins in North America he'll be live in the studio on the other side of the break back in a moment.