Chris Gayle out of the international wilderness
Chris Gayle is set to put more than a year in the international wilderness behind him when West Indies vs England in the opening match of their one-day series at Southampton on Saturday.
Chris Gayle has an impressive one-day record, with over 8000 runs in 228 One Day International‘s (ODI) including 19 hundreds at an average of nearly 40. But it is the manner in which the Gayle bats that has made him one of cricket’s biggest box-office draws.
Meanwhile when it was confirmed Chris Gayle had made his peace with the West Indies Cricket Board, ticket sales for Saturday’s match quickened to the extent of ensuring a near-capacity 14,000 crowd.
The coach Ottis Gibson and senior Caribbean cricket officials led to Gayle’s exile by the WICB. A meeting earlier this month between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), selectors and Chris Gayle, brokered by Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of St Vincent, and Baldwin Spencer, the Prime Minister of Antigua, saw him restored to the squad.
Chris Gayle is well aware that, after such intervention, expectations will be high. But a couple of sixes in a brisk 34 against Middlesex, where he also took two wickets with his off-spin, suggested his skills had been undimmed during an absence where Gayle has cashed in on his talent in the lucrative T20 IPL season.
Ottis Gibson said:
“I’m human, so I felt a bit nervous”. “But now I’m really looking forward to the first ODI game. I’ll be in a better state of mind”.
“Everything has been rectified (with Gibson and the board), we are all here as one and our main objective is to try to contribute to West Indies cricket”.
“Gayle is the best one-day batsman in the world … He has fitted in well and is raring to go”.
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