Caribbean-born Kent bowling coach Robbie Joseph thinks international cricket would be a worse place without the West Indies involved in it.
Former fast bowler Joseph grew up in Kent but was born in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda.
A touring West Indies team are set to play at Beckenham from today until Friday against a First-Class Counties Select XI in the build-up to a three-game Test series with England, although Joseph will be on Kent duty with the team rounding off their Championship clash at Hampshire today and then facing Gloucestershire in the Vitality Blast on Friday.
With the West Indies already winning a Test in Australia for the first time since 1997 in their drawn two-match series in January, Joseph conceded: “The West Indies are there (at Beckenham) – but what we’re doing is we’re probably busy, playing!
“But I go home every year. I’m planning to take my little boy there in October to meet his grandmother for the first time.
“I run my Academy from there where I had all the stuff given to me at the start. It’s interesting, with the way they have gone about their cricket recently and drawing the series in Australia.
“They have got the young lad, (Shamar) Joseph, who is setting the world alight.
“The world would be a worse place if the West Indies weren’t playing at a high level.”
Kent’s out-of-form batsman Zak Crawley has retained his spot in England’s 14-strong squad for the first two Tests of the series.
Aside from 238 in a County Championship Division 1 defeat to Somerset in May, Crawley has offered little with the bat and scored just 82 runs from eight T20 Blast innings this summer.
Surrey wicketkeeper Jamie Smith has somewhat controversially also earned his first Test call-up ahead of Durham’s ex-Kent wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson, who has been in fine form.
England’s first Test with the West Indies begins next Wednesday at Lord’s and will be James Anderson’s last Test before his international retirement.
The squad – minus Anderson – covers the second Test at Trent Bridge from July 18, as well. The third Test at Edgbaston begins on July 26.
Joseph rejoined Kent ahead of the 2024 season when Daniel Bell-Drummond was preparing for his first campaign as the club’s permanent skipper.
Bell-Drummond, born in Lewisham but whose parents are of Jamaican descent, is the first Kent club captain of Caribbean heritage.
“It’s a nice little link-up,” noted Joseph. “Hopefully, we can find some food at some point in Canterbury! I think there’s one spot around – Saint Smokeys.
“It’s all good. We try to embrace everybody’s culture as a family club, just be around each other, find out about one another and how we plan to move on further in our journeys.”
Ironically, Joseph even coached Academy graduate Bell-Drummond and Spitfires’ T20 Blast skipper Sam Billings as youngsters when he played for the club, too.
He revealed: “I have coached Daniel, aged 12 or 13, and Sam Billings. I’ve known them since they were tiny!
“I’ve coached him, played second-team cricket with him and played first-team cricket with him. So, I’ve known Daniel from a really young age.
“They have both been through the system all the way through.
“It’s just lovely to see that we’re producing talented cricketers.”
