SIX months after it first surfaced, the charade over Chris Gayle's exclusion from the West Indies team is still no nearer closure.
The WICB board of directors' decision, taken at their recent meeting in St.Lucia, has been made public, reaffirming that, to qualify for selection, Gayle is still required to withdraw his widely-publicised critical statements "on the board and its officers" during a radio interview in April..
Gayle has responded as he did from the start. He is not one for retracting his word.
So nothing has changed in the interim.
A fiery meeting between the WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) and one-on-one discussions between Gayle and WICB chief executive Ernest Hilaire had no effect.
As it stands, both sides have dug in their heels. If he does not comply with the WICB's directive, Gayle is likely to remain persona non grata and out of the West Indies team.
In purely cricketing terms, he is an undeniable asset as proven opening batsman feared by bowlers for his ferocious hitting. Read More