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Is Chris Gayle great ?

Ilovecric

U19 Cricketer
Gayle also missed out on some peak batting years after the issue he had with the board back a few years ago.
Great point!! ...WI players play with their board playing on their minds than opponents. I remember Sammy became captain and there was an alternative team for a good while. Then sometimes they ban Gayle because of something he said and he had to take up T20 very seriously to secure his long term future. Playing for WI is kind of a hassle and players plaaying in these conditions should be credited extra for overcoming such odds. Imagine playing a world cup and the day before the first game you're not sure if you're going to step out on the field. The minds of WI players are usually in a different place.
 

Zinzan

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He's definitely a T20 great.
Yup, People need to be clear on the form of cricket they're referring to with such a question.

A Test great? Nowhere near, not even one of the great test bats of his era.

An ODI great? - No

T20 great? - Yes

Combined forms great? - No
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Chris Gayle will be remembered long after many better players have been forgotten - that for me is the measure of greatness so yes, in the round, I would say he is

If the question were "Is he a great batsman?" then he's just too inconsistent and too much of a one trick pony - but then it is one hell of a trick, and he's certainly a great entertainer - I dare say that the bar staff at the grounds look forward to a long Gayle innings if they fancy an easy day
 

OverratedSanity

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Think Gayle's a bit underrated by people who only recognizze him for his t20 innings. He's at worst a good test batsman tbh. Still remember his hundreds in the series in Australia in 2009. Played an awesome 160 odd to save the game for West Indies pretty much single handedly and followed it up next game with a mad 70 ball century. He's been far better in tests than people generally give him credit for.
 

Zinzan

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Chris Gayle will be remembered long after many better players have been forgotten - that for me is the measure of greatness so yes, in the round, I would say he is
Disagree with that Fred. That's just being a 'legend' or 'folk hero', which to me is quite different to 'greatness'.

I mean by the same token, one could say Lance Cairns was one of the greats.... when clearly he wasn't, nor would he make a NZ all-time XI across any format. But like Gayle, Lance Cairns was a 'folk-hero' & arguably the biggest name in NZ outside Hadlee in the early 80s.
 

cnerd123

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Think Gayle's a bit underrated by people who only recognizze him for his t20 innings. He's at worst a good test batsman tbh. Still remember his hundreds in the series in Australia in 2009. Played an awesome 160 odd to save the game for West Indies pretty much single handedly and followed it up next game with a mad 70 ball century. He's been far better in tests than people generally give him credit for.
Nah I think he deserves the reputation of being a good, Test-quality opener given he had such a long career, averaged over 40, and played some fine knocks.

But he isn't a WI Test ATG, let alone a test ATG.

In T20s however, he is a legit ATG.
 

OverratedSanity

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When did I say he's test ATG? He's not. However, there is this opinion in many circles (not so much here) that he's a mediocre test batsman and is all about t20s. That's just unfair to the guy.
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Disagree with that Fred. That's just being a 'legend' or 'folk hero', which to me is quite different to 'greatness'.

I mean by the same token, one could say Lance Cairns was one of the greats.... when clearly he wasn't, nor would he make a NZ all-time XI across any format. But like Gayle, Lance Cairns was a 'folk-hero' & arguably the biggest name in NZ outside Hadlee in the early 80s.
Fair point - I did perhaps over simplify my comment - not sure that Big Lance is a good example but one who would be is Salman Butt, who I'm sure I'd have already forgotten were it not for the spot-fixing scandal - I don't think anyone would seek to argue that he was a batsman of any particular ability - Asif and Amir are a bit different - they will be long remembered for the same reason but were much better cricketers and, in Amir's case, might yet achieve greatness as a player - so on reflection I should have used the indefinite article and said "a measure of greatness", but I think the quality of Gayle's batting was sufficiently high often enough to justify describing him as great on purely cricketing grounds.
 

Zinzan

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When did I say he's test ATG? He's not. However, there is this opinion in many circles (not so much here) that he's a mediocre test batsman and is all about t20s. That's just unfair to the guy.
Tbf, I haven't heard anyone say he's a mediocre test batsman if referring to his test career in it's entirety.

Although, to put things in perspective, I'm trying to find a place for him in my West Indies All-time 2nd XI...and I'm struggling...
 

Zinzan

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Fair point - I did perhaps over simplify my comment - not sure that Big Lance is a good example but one who would be is Salman Butt, who I'm sure I'd have already forgotten were it not for the spot-fixing scandal - I don't think anyone would seek to argue that he was a batsman of any particular ability - Asif and Amir are a bit different - they will be long remembered for the same reason but were much better cricketers and, in Amir's case, might yet achieve greatness as a player - so on reflection I should have used the indefinite article and said "a measure of greatness", but I think the quality of Gayle's batting was sufficiently high often enough to justify describing him as great on purely cricketing grounds.
Fair enough. There's little doubt he's one of the best ball strikers in history....so if that plays any small part at all in the 'greatness stakes', then no argument from me on that.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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Tbf, I haven't heard anyone say he's a mediocre test batsman if referring to his test career in it's entirety.

Although, to put things in perspective, I'm trying to find a place for him in my West Indies All-time 2nd XI...and I'm struggling...
He could average a good 5-10 runs more, and that still might be tough. The history of West Indies cricket is just that rich.

However, he's the best (proven) batsman to have debuted for West Indies within the last two decades in any form of cricket. Sarwan is the only legitimate challenger that comes to mind.
Yes, West Indies cricket has been progressively poorer over that period, but it still puts him in a best XI for a sizeable chunk of WI history, for whatever it's worth.

In the context of the world, West Indies' best talents of today would probably never make it into the most professional and best resourced teams. The playing field is too uneven.
 

Mr Mxyzptlk

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Fair enough. There's little doubt he's one of the best ball strikers in history....so if that plays any small part at all in the 'greatness stakes', then no argument from me on that.
Qualifying Kieron Pollard as a little bit great too. Not to mention Dwayne 'Pinch Hitter' Smith.
 
Chris Gayle has always been one of my favourite strikers of the cricket ball. On his day, he can be devastating for the opposition and take the game away from them in a hurry. However my personal favourite is AB Deviliers. He just has an extra dimension to his batting where he can build an innings, and adapt to any given situation.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
I was updating my personal list of great players and I was wondering whether to have Gayle there. I put him there ultimately with an asterix. You would put WG Grace in a list of great cricketers, so why not Gayle? WG took batting forward. We often here that he formed what modern batting is, in many ways. Gayle has taken batting forward as well. T20 batting has stretched batting to new areas. The thing is, though, that ABD is doing the same with his hitting now. Gayle's importance might diminish with time, I am not sure.

We consider Bevan a great, for sure. At least I do, for his ODI batting. However, T20 is even less important that ODIs, so I am not sure whether to consider Gayle a great or not.
 

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