Shamar Joseph is a Guyanese cricketer who was born on the 31st of August 1999. He now competes for Guyana in first-class cricket and for the West Indies in international cricket. A quick bowler with his right arm, he bowls. It was in January of 2024 that he made his debut for the West Indies on the international stage, playing against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
His previous occupation was that of a security guard before he began his career as a professional cricket player. Baracara is a tiny town located in East Berbice-Corentyne, Guyana. It is about 225 kilometers up the Canje River and two days by boat from the port city of New Amsterdam. Joseph is hailing from Baracara. As he was growing up, he had very limited or completely no access to telephone lines or internet services.
Joseph’s family consisted of three sisters and five brothers as he was growing up. Throughout his childhood, Joseph was a huge fan of Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, who were both opening bowlers for the West Indies cricket team. He would watch their highlights and try to replicate their style by playing tapeball games around the village. In Baracara, he began bowling using fruits including lemons, limes, guavas and peaches together with a tape ball. This kind of cricket was referred to as jungle-land cricket.
Shamar Joseph Biography
| Name | Shamar Joseph |
| Full Name | Shamar Joseph |
| Date of Birth | 31 August 1999 |
| Place of Birth | Guyana |
| Other Names | NA |
| Nationality | West Indies |
| Father’s Name | Eustace |
| Mother’s Name | Carlin |
| Siblings | Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh |
| Spouse | NA |
| Marriage Date | NA |
| Children | NA |
| Role | Batting |
| Batting | Left-handed |
| Bowling | Right-arm Fast |
| ODI Debut | NA |
| Test Debut | 17 January 2024 vs. Australia |
| Favourite Food | NA |
| Favourite Actor | NA |
| Favourite Actress | NA |
| Favourite Colour | Blue |
| Retirement | Still Playing |
Additionally, he practiced balls made of melted plastic bottles as a kind of exercise. While playing for Tucber Park Cricket Club, he participated in a few matches in both the first division and the second division. This was his first exposure to the sport of cricket. He was the first person from Baracara to ever play in a test match. Before beginning his career as a cricket player, Joseph worked in the logging business with his brothers and father. They performed tasks such as falling and cutting logs in the Baracara region and then transported the lumber to New Amsterdam by way of the Canje River.
As a result of an event in which he came dangerously close to being struck by a falling tree, Joseph decided to leave Baracara and travel to New Amsterdam to find employment and continue providing for his family. Joseph was able to get a job in New Amsterdam, first in the construction industry, where he worked as a laborer, and subsequently in the security guard position at Amalgamated Security Services, which was located at Scotiabank, New Amsterdam.
His profession as a security guard forced him to work lengthy shifts that lasted for twelve hours, both during the day and at night. As a result, he had very little time to devote to his cricketing endeavors. Joseph eventually decided to resign from his work and devote his entire time to pursuing his cricketing goals, and his fiancée was there to support him in this endeavor. Joseph’s first opportunity to play cricket came about as a result of Romario Shepherd’s representation.
Joseph made connections with Esuan Crandon, the head coach of the Guyana cricket team, as well as other prominent Guyanese players, including Leon Johnson, who was still the captain of the Guyana team at the time. Shepherd introduced Joseph to the Guyana cricket squad. In addition, he gained assistance from Damion Vantull, a former Guyanese player who is now a businessman. Vantull assured Joseph that he should avoid the security guard position to try his luck in cricket.
Batting & Fielding Stats
| YEAR | MAT | NO | RUNS | HS | AVG | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4S | 6S | CT | ST | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No stats | ||||||||||||||
Bowling
| YEAR | MAT | BALLS | RUNS | WKTS | BBM | AVE | ECON | SR | 4W | 5W | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No stats | |||||||||||
As soon as he started playing cricket in Division 1, Joseph made a strong first impression by earning his debut numbers of 6/13 innings. Curtly Ambrose was the instructor at a fast bowling clinic that he attended in Berbice. He gained a call-up to play first-class cricket as a result of his performance in a trial game, in which he took eight wickets. This allowed him to further establish his authority. Additionally, Joseph was a member of the Muslim Youth Organization (MYO) Sports Club in Georgetown, where he participated in club cricket.
The Guyana Harpy Eagles selected Joseph as one of four players who had not yet been capped for the 55th edition of the Regional Four-Day Competition. Before receiving his call-up for the first-class cricket event, Joseph had never played for Guyana or represented the country at any level under any circumstances. On February 1, 2023, during the 2022–23 West Indies Championship, he made his debut for Guyana in a first-class match against Barbados.
His maiden five-wicket haul in first-class cricket came against the Windward Islands during the 2022–23 West Indies Championship. He finished with statistics of 5/41 in a stint that lasted 12 overs. This was his first career five-wicket haul. Although he was first brought in by the Guyana Amazon Warriors for the 2023 Caribbean Premier League as a net bowler, he was ultimately selected for the 2023 team as a substitute for Keemo Paul due to an injury.
Prasanna Agoram, the talent scout for Guyana Amazon Warriors, was the one who urged Joseph to pursue his cricket career seriously. This happened during Joseph’s first stay in the Caribbean Premier League. Prasanna Agoram has been the recipient of Joseph’s adoration ever since, and Joseph has affectionately referred to Agoram as his “father and mother.” Agoram was the one who first persuaded Imran Tahir, who was serving as captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors at the time, to add Joseph to the team’s roster for the 2023 Caribbean Premier League season.
Joseph made his debut in the Twenty20 competition on September 17, 2023, when he played against the Barbados Royals in a league stage encounter. A part of the Guyana Amazon Warriors team that won the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2023, Joseph was also an important contributor to the team’s success. Joseph was noteworthy in his ability to produce short-pitched deliveries at speeds that frequently exceeded 140 kilometers per hour, even though he only played two matches during his first spell in the Caribbean Premier League with the Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2023.
