BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Against the backdrop of a bruising impasse which left regional cricket in tatters, West Indies captain Chris Gayle said yesterday uniting the current team would be his main focus as they prepared to meet the mighty Australians.
Speaking ahead of the 15-man squad’s departure for the three-Test tour Down Under, Gayle said rallying the team together would be crucial to achieving positive results. “This is the first time we have actually been gathered as a team. The reason the Board wanted everyone to depart from Barbados was to meet together and get that unity back together,” Gayle told reporters prior to the team departure from the Grantley Adams International Airport here. “Our main focus will actually be trying to cooperate as much as possible and make sure once we cross that line we’re actually out there as a unit and putting our best foot forward and trying to represent West Indies in the best manner as possible.”
Gayle’s comments come on the heels of the bitter contracts dispute which resulted in the top tier players sitting out the Bangladeshi tour of the Caribbean and the ICC Champions Trophy, and a second string squad being chosen to represent the region.
Four players from the makeshift squad – Darren Sammy, Gavin Tonge, Kemar Roach and Travis Dowlin – have been included along with the returning first choice players in the current touring party. Gayle stressed, however, that those players would be treated no differently as the impasse was now a thing of the past.
“As a captain support is very important … I am really honoured and privileged to have the support of the guys and their backing. That goes to show there is strength and unity and we can work together,” the languid 29-year-old Jamaican said. “You mentioned the guys who played in the last home series, they are now back in the team. We’re just trying to deal with the situation accordingly, treat everyone with the same level [of] respect.
“What has happened is already in the past. If we want to uplift West Indies cricket we have to try and put these things behind us.”
Gayle was controversially reappointed West Indies captain last week, after much debate that suggested he would have been axed from the position following his involvement in the players’ strike and ill-advised comments made about the captaincy earlier this year in England.
The left-handed opener, who was first appointed two years ago, said he was eager to lead the team again but warned that the tour would be difficult one.
“It’s a good feeling to be back as West Indies captain and as a player as well. We’re going off to Australia and we are looking forward to it,” Gayle noted.
“At the same time we know it won’t be an easy tour and our main focus will be to beat Australia in Australia which will be difficult. The thought and the mindset is actually to go out there and be positive and hopefully we can win.
“At the end of the tournament nothing less than a victory would be nice but having said that, some of us have been out of cricket for quite some time now so that’s another chance we have to look up against, myself is included in that.
“Once we reach down there we will try and adjust to the conditions as quickly as possible and make sure we get in some net sessions. We have one practice game before the Test match so those things will be useful for us and we have to try and make the best use of these things. Gayle hailed the tour as a fresh start and pointed to the presence of new manager, legendary West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner as crucial to the team’s development.
“It’s a new beginning. It you look at the team there are a couple of youngsters joining the team,” Gayle pointed out.
“With Joel Garner as manager we have a lot of experience there to share with us so we will take that with both hands and hopefully we can use it well and work as one and get that result on the field.” West Indies are due to arrive in Australia tomorrow and will be in training until they play Queensland in a four-day match on November 18, their only warm-up match before they first Test bowls off in Brisbane eight days later.
The regional side will then play Tests in Adelaide (December 4-8) and in Perth (December 16-20) before returning home just before Christmas Day.
SQUAD – Chris Gayle (captain), Adrian Barath, Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shiv Chanderpaul, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Gavin Tonge
