UNLESS the quote was lost in translation in the Reuters transmission from Dhaka, neither the question at the media briefing on the West Indies’ team arrival in Bangladesh or Ottis Gibson’s answer was surprising.
As Chris Gayle kept belting the white ball into the night sky for his Royal Challengers’ team across the border in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Reuters reported the inevitable question and the inevitable reply.
It read: “Asked if he thought the absence of Chris Gayle would hurt the team in the series starting next week, head coach Gibson emphatically said, ‘No’, We are not going to miss him because he’s not here.”
Gibson once again stated that his purpose was to build a team around young players, along with “senior players that are committed to mix with the youngsters and guide the youngsters”.
Gayle was passed over for the home series against Pakistan and India earlier in the year and signed up when an opening came up for the Royal Challengers.
Adamant that he wants to play for the West Indies, even without a central contract, he has had meetings with WICB representatives and chief executive Ernest Hilaire to sort the matter out, CARICOM has also got involved.
The problem has now dragged on for several months without resolution. Based on a WICB announcement of the team for Bangladesh, it finally appears to be coming to an end.
“The WICB management will submit a report to the board of directors after which a conclusive statement will be made,” it declared.
The decision is likely to correspond with Gibson’s position that “we need some senior guys with the hunger and desire”, leaving Gayle to pursue the several lucrative Twenty20 tournaments that have already made him one of the wealthiest West Indian cricketers.
His future will be known when the WICB board of directors meets in a few weeks. As much as the coach is convinced of the eventual success of his policy, the decision is not up to him. It is the reason why his comment in Dhaka was both untimely and unrealistic.
Given the WICB’s assurance that it would issue “a conclusive statement” after receiving the team management’s report, Gibson’s reply to the media query should have been a straightforward: “The issue of Gayle’s absence will soon be determined by the board.” Full stop.
On purely cricketing grounds, as one of the game’s most devastating and experienced batsmen, Gayle (91 Tests, 6 373 runs, 13 hundreds, 228 ODIs, 8 027 runs, 19 hundreds) will clearly be missed in a team whose openers (Adrian Barath, Keiran Powell and Kraigg Brathwaite) have six Tests between them.
If such stats were the only criterion for selection, the powerful Jamaican left-hander would be a certainty but the other factors have so far excluded him.
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