WELLINGTON, New Zealand, CMC – Chris Gayle has ruled himself out of next month’s Test series against England but has reiterated he has not retired from the longer format of the game.
The opener, who has struggled with a recurring back injury over the last year, said he was looking forward to continuing his career but needed to undergo recuperation following the Windies World Cup campaign.
“I’m actually out of the Test series, the back won’t hold up for that format at this point in time,” the left-handed opener said following West Indies’ quarter-final defeat to New Zealand yesterday.
“But I haven’t retired from any format as yet. As I go on I will keep informing WICB about my progress in the future with West Indies cricket.”
Speculation has been rife over Gayle’s future, especially with his well-publicised back injury hampering his form of recent.
The Jamaica pulled out of the Test series against South Africa last December and had also missed the final Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh last September.
Gayle said he was eyeing next year’s Twenty20 World Cup in India but he would spend time dealing with his injury issues.
“I definitely want to play the T20 World Cup next year for West Indies, there’s no doubt about that,” Gayle said.
“I’ve got a few concerns and a few injury [cases] to try and solve. I’ll give myself some time and hopefully look back at it and see how well I can actually progress for West Indies cricket at this point in time.”
Gayle smashed 61 yesterday as West Indies went down by 143 runs to New Zealand, in pursuit of 394 for victory.
West Indies face England in three Tests from April 13 to May 5.
