Chris Gayle willing to quit West Indies captaincy

[Richard]

Originally Posted by shivfan

These English journalists are so dishonest.

I don't know about Caribbean journalists, but I assure you many of those from more places than not are equally dishonest - including the US of A, Australia, New Zealand and India. Most journalists are apt to place sensationalism above giving an informed and accurate picture, so thus will go as close as they can to the line of outright lying without crossing it, in order to get the best possible story that will draw as much readership as possible.

Cricket journalists and journalists from the UK are no mere exception in a wider rule of honesty and integrity.

[roseboy64]

Originally Posted by Bonnie Prince C

If he doesnt want to captain his country then what is the point in him doing it? The body language of the West Indian team in the last test was dreadful and if you have someone at the helm who doesnt even want to be there then it is not going to improve. If someone doesnt come in and lift the team from what they were like at Lords then the West Indies will struggle.

He's not wanted to do it since he was given the job. He gave it up sometime last year and was persuaded to take it back.

[zaremba]

Originally Posted by shivfan

Personally, I think he was right to give precedence to the IPL over this ridiculous, truncated tour. There's no way the idiots in the WICB should've allowed the ECB to give up the 2010 tour for this nonsensical one.

You're right that this is a ridiculous truncated tour, but that's no excuse. Given that the WICB did arrange the tour, Gayle, as captain of the team, should give the precedence to it that his team and its supporters deserve.

He's the Test captain of the West Indies, for god's sake, and he arrives in utterly unfamiliar conditions 2 days before the 1st Test, gives as half-hearted a display of captaincy in that game as you'll ever see, and says that he doesn't really like Test cricket 2 days before the 2nd Test.

[silentstriker]

What do you expect? It's going to happen more and more. Crowds have stopped coming except in a few countries. We should have had things like day night cricket, colored clothes, umpiring reviews, etc. long ago. But the people who live in the past are determined to die in it.

If and when Test cricket fails to be the primary form of the game in the opinion of those who play it, that's when I'll end my following of the game.

[BoyBrumby]

Originally Posted by fredfertang

Easy to see what has happened there - I am sure Colin Stagg would sympathasise with Gayle

As a Granuiad reader I've admired Ms Kessler's prose before, but think she bowls no more than a steady military medium in looks, if that isn't terribly ungallant of me. Not the kind of nymphette whose leggie wiles would penetrate the opener's defence.

Although Gayle famously does have a weakness for the fairer sex (& a dislike of the sort of social occasions captains are expected to attend), as "county stalwart" ()Dave Podmore once related & I repeat here for no other reason than it makes me smile:

Chris Gayle, West Indies' latest and least likely triple centurion, is arguably the coolest dude in the cricket firmament. He does not care much for running when he bats, preferring the heavy artillery. He cares even less for it when he bowls his off-spin (a bit too sweaty bowling seam and, besides, the shades would have to come off). And, if possible, he plants himself at slip when doing neither.

Neither does he enjoy wasting good breath on idle social chit-chat. At an official function last summer he found himself placed next to a former England and Wales Cricket Board official, who could enthuse for the World against the planet Mars.

After half an hour of sitting sullenly through reminiscences and accounts of the privileges of touring, he could take no more. He turned, looked through his mirrors at his companion and spoke for the first time. "You get much pussy?"

Originally Posted by Uppercut

Haha, this is a strange comment. He doesn't want to! The whole interview was about how much he hates being the captain!

If anything, by your logic he does deserve to captain the West Indies as punishment for making such statements.




Hope he was havin' a laff though.

TBF tho he isn't forced into taking the captaincy; he might have his arm twisted a bit into taking a role he didn't aspire to (in fact in the the interview he seems to allude to this being the case), but he can walk away. It does seem a tad rich to accept and then bitch about what a ball-ache it is.

[Uppercut]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

TBF tho he isn't forced into taking the captaincy; he might have his arm twisted a bit into taking a role he didn't aspire to (in fact in the the interview he seems to allude to this being the case), but he can walk away. It does seem a tad rich to accept and then bitch about what a ball-ache it is.

Absolutely. I don't think Gayle comes out of the whole thing at all well.

But it's ironic to say, "he doesn't deserve the captaincy!" when he's just had a massive rant about why he doesn't want it.

[shivfan]

Are you guys still quoting the misinformation perpetuated by the Guardian and Sky Sports?

This is what Gayle really thinks....

:West Indies Cricket Board Gayle looking for victory in 2nd Test

“I am definitely not giving up the captaincy after this Test match. I think I still have a big part to play in West Indies cricket. I always get the support of the team and the management staff. There is no conflict or problems in the team,” Gayle stated. “We want to focus on our cricket by getting the job done – winning this match and keeping the Wisden Trophy. Since I started as captain it has helped me with my game and it has helped me as an individual as well. I am committed to West Indies cricket. As a player I am totally focused on the upcoming match and what I need to do to be successful. As a team we are totally focused on what is required to defeat England. We had discussions after the 1st Test and we know we have to be mentally strong in this match. It is a must win game and we will be looking to keep the Trophy. We will be attacking from ball one.”

“Test cricket will always be there. Test cricket is the ultimate. It is a test of you as a player and it is a test of character. You have to be mentally strong to cope with Test cricket as it runs over five days. Once you prepare properly you will be a worthy Test cricketer. “We have to get on with it. There is a job to be done tomorrow when we come up against England,” Gayle said. “I have no hard feelings against Strauss. I have a lot of respect for him. There is no stand-off between Strauss and myself.”


All this is stuff he said in the live interview with Sky Sports News, when I watched it. But in subsequent soundbites, Sky cut out most of this, and totally twisted what Gayle said to make a sensational headline....

It really says a lot for the English media, when the WICB is a more reliable source of news!

[Line and Lenght]

The uncomfortable future of cricket - Imran Khan

Imran Khan

[Howsie]

The whole interview of Chris Gayle was full of spiteful comments about everything under the sun starting from Andrew Strauss to the Captaincy of West Indies. The man Chris Gayle is a clown and deserves no respect from anyone. Though lot of pundits hail him as a good captain, he has not shown any signs of a leader in his two years of leadership. His reaction, rather lack of it, during the fiasco in the first ODI said everything about his leadership qualities. Oh yes given his record in this year's IPL, someone needs to remind him that he is crap at it too. What a joker!

[roseboy64]

Anyway, here's the Sky interview.

[Shri]

This article explains the whole situation:

Cricinfo - Blame greedy boards, says WIPA chief

[shivfan]

Originally Posted by Howsie

The whole interview of Chris Gayle was full of spiteful comments about everything under the sun starting from Andrew Strauss to the Captaincy of West Indies. The man Chris Gayle is a clown and deserves no respect from anyone. Though lot of pundits hail him as a good captain, he has not shown any signs of a leader in his two years of leadership. His reaction, rather lack of it, during the fiasco in the first ODI said everything about his leadership qualities. Oh yes given his record in this year's IPL, someone needs to remind him that he is crap at it too. What a joker!

Don't base your decision on the rubbish written in the Guardian, on cricinfo, and the BBC website....

Watch the link posted by roseboy. That is the interview in it's full, devoid of the ridiculous embellishments and headlines used by Sky Sports. Personally, I see nothing wrong with what Gayle said in the interview.

All he's saying is that he personally prefers 20/20 cricket to Tests. He says that Test cricket is here to stay, and that it is the ultimate test of one's abilities. He says that it is very draining on one's mental resources, and that when the time eventually came to make a choice, he would choose 20/20 cricket. He also points out that 20/20 attracts much better crowds than Test cricket.

Nothing wrong with that!

[Nutter]

Chris Gayle is the man.

[shivfan]

The English media - and cricinfo - are obsessed with burning at the stake anyone who dares to question the divinity of Test cricket....

Gayle has just raised an issue that is widely held by a lot of non-English cricketers around the world, as this article by former WICB media officer Imran Khan explains:

CaribbeanCricket.com - The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

So, maybe some folks should climb down from their high horses....

[G.I.Joe]

Those comments can't be too good for Strauss's ego