(Trinidad Guardian) Plans are in the pipeline to give legendary West Indies batsman Chris Gayle a send-off in Jamaica. In the aftermath of West Indies’ failed T20 World Cup campaign which saw the defending champions finish fifth in Group 1, the 42-year-old said he was not retiring from the sport.
“I didn’t announce any retirement but [if] they actually give me one game in Jamaica to go in front of my home crowd, then I can say ‘hey guys, thank you so much,” Gayle said in a Facebook live with the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Cricket West Indies (CWI) looks set to grant Gayle his last career wish. CWI chief executive officer Johnny Grave told the Mason & Guest programme in Barbados on Tuesday night that a one-off T20 match against Ireland in January could be Gayle’s farewell match.
He said, “We’re going to play three ODIs against Ireland in the second week of January and then one T20 at Sabina Park and I think that would, hopefully, if fans are allowed into Sabina Park a good opportunity for us to say farewell to Chris at his home ground.”
Grave admitted the changing nature of COVID-19 and the challenges the disease present to the Caribbean makes it uncertain.
“We’re still talking to the government of Jamaica around the protocols and the ability to play the series there but I’d hope within the next few days that we can confirm that series taking place and being held in Jamaica,” he added.
West Indies Championship
Grave also gave an update on the upcoming season saying the plan is for the four-day season to restart in February with teams hopefully travelling.
“We’re going to anchor three teams at home and three teams will travel and then reverse that for the second round,” he said.
Grave explained that the challenges COVID-19 present do not make the present plans set in stone and the regular format of playing across all six territories “can be ruled out”.
“The current plan is that the Windward Islands, Barbados and Jamaica would play at home with Guyana, T&T and Jamaica would be travelling across those three countries and then we would split it with Guyana, T&T and either St Kitts or Antigua playing at home.
Pakistan series on
Grave also confirmed that the Pakistan tour will go ahead this December with the West Indies scheduled to play three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). It comes as reports claim that some players have a problem touring.
Grave added, “Everything is moving ahead as planned. We have a meeting with the players this week to go through both the medical and security plans… As far as I’m concerned the Pakistan tour is on. We’ve had the security report in.
We’ve had confirmation of their security plan from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that the team will get the same presidential style security, the highest level of security, provisions that any team can get when touring.”
