Gayle fails to heed diktat
Windies Board’s call for meeting to sort out differences ignored
Uncertainty still looms large over Chris Gayle’s participation in the ODI series against India with the explosive opener yet to respond to the WICB’s call to meet with it’s top brass and sort out differences in order to be eligible for selection.
“I haven’t heard from him yet,” said West Indies’ chief selector, Clyde Butts during the team’s practice session at the Queen’s Park Oval on Wednesday.
Despite his stellar performance for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, Gayle was left out of the the West Indies squad for the Twenty20 match and the first two ODIs for his outburst against WICB.
The WICB asked Gayle to make himself available for a meeting with the board, selectors and the team management in order to be eligible for future selection. But so far, he has turned his back on the offer.
The bone of contention between Gayle and WICB is the radio interview in which he had alleged that the board officials did not bother to check the status of his fitness or availability before announcing the squad for the recently-held Pakistan series.
That has irked the WICB officials to such an extent that they have kept the records of the e-mails sent to the big-bodied Jamaican enquiring about his fitness as well as the record of the numerous phone calls that went unanswered.
The WICB selectors are likely to announce the team for the remaining three ODIs by early next week and Gayle’s adam-ant behaviour could see him miss out on a place for those matches as well.
WIPA support
The West Indies Players’ Association has thrown its weight behind Gayle in his stand-off with the Board. “In this instance, Gayle was acting in a truly private capacity. Additionally, while this information is conveyed via selectors’ notes, the proposed meeting is one of very broad composition encompassing not only the WICB Selectors but WICB management and West Indies team management,” WIPA said.
“This begs the question as to the type and scope of the meeting being proposed,” the release added. WIPA said it would be “examining and evaluating” the WICB’s present and future actions concerning Gayle, particularly in light of his impressive form in the IPL where he was the highest scorer.
Although Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard are in the 13-man ODI squad, there is no place for Gayle or Jerome Taylor, the other West Indians returning from the IPL.
