Chris Gayle slams the WICB after being compared to a drugs lord

 
This really is a terribly sad time for West Indies cricket.

Whilst the current side managed to scrape a draw from the rain affected Barbados Test against India most of the attention was focused on off-field events concerning its ostracised former captain.

Chris Gayle’s public statement makes pretty shocking reading and if even half of the things he is saying are true then it would seem that the WICB are doing a pretty good of making the PCB appear competent. Ijaz Butt clearly has strong competition from WICB CEO Ernest Hilaire in the crazed cricket dictator stakes.

Gayle’s words prompted us to visit once again the excellent WICB Exposé blog (the very fact that such a site exists is proof enough of the inability of the WICB to perform its function) to once again view the video where WICB member Sir Hilary Beckles likens Gayle to notorious alleged Jamaican criminal and alleged drug dealer Christopher "Dudus" Coke.

Put it this way, this is not the Don that a top batsman would want to be compared to.

 

Gayle has clearly been badly treated although he cannot claim to be entirely innocent. His late arrival from the IPL for the Test series in England in 2009 was not the responsible behaviour becoming of a captain and his subsequent comments about the captaincy and Test cricket were ill-advised.

Indeed, it is revealing that Gayle’s statement mentions that both Clive Lloyd and Joel Garner voted against his retention as captain for the tour of Australia late in 2009. Lloyd in particular should know a good captain when he sees one – a truly great one looks back at him every morning in the shaving mirror.

But irrespective of his captaincy credentials, Gayle’s performance on that tour where his contrasting hundreds at Adelaide and Perth were the highlights of the series ably demonstrated how much he cared about playing for the West Indies. They also showed that he is by far the best West Indian batsman playing the game today - only Shivnarine Chanderpaul comes close.

That his talent and presence now appears lost to a team that so desperately needs it is dreadfully sad and a damning indictment of those running the game in the Caribbean.

Where next?

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Comments

[Reverse Swept Radio]

Perhaps the saddest thing about this controversy is it is dragging the Windies back at a time when they finally appear to be getting things together. Gibson and Sammy seem to be forming a leadership pairing of ambition and substance, while the team is certainly not being outclassed by India.

[AB]

I hope King Kumar doesn't face a similar situation for his remarks during the latter half.

http://live.wturrell.co.uk/mp3s/2011/20110704_kumar_sangakkara_lecture.mp3

I feel the administrators ought to take in criticism without exercising their powers.

[The Reverse Sweep]

I hope so too AB. I've just written something on Kumar's Spirit of Cricket speech. It was quite magnificent (the speech not my piece!), have you heard it yet?

[The Reverse Sweep]

The whole thing is a bit of a joke. The Windies have some reasonably promising young players - Bishoo, Bravo, Bartah, Roach etc, but for the WICB to deprive the team of its outstanding batsman is just plain crazy. Fair enough taking the captaincy away from him, but effectively dropping him? It makes no sense.