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Chris Gayle willing to quit West Indies captaincy and face future without Tests
The West Indies batsman admits he could step down as captain and believes Twenty20 cricket will kill the five-day game
Downcast West Indies captain Chris Gayle during a nets session at Chester-Le-Street. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
From the moment Chris Gayle descends to the lobby of his London hotel, it appears he does not want to be there. He does not want to be in chilly England, and he does not want to be up early when his preferred habit is to sleep in until 2pm. Then the list continues, and he admits that he does not want to be West Indies captain any more and that he does not particularly care for Test cricket.
"I wouldn't be so sad," says Gayle when asked how he would feel if Test cricket were to die out. He prefers Twenty20 over the traditional game. About the captaincy he is similarly blase. "To be honest with you, there's a possibility I might give it up – I will be giving it up, shortly."
These statements do not come tumbling out; instead they are revealed over the course of an hour that begins with a moody face and the unusual sight of a huge man sipping hot chocolate. "Because it's sweet," he says, "and I'm sweet." He flashes a smile, his first of the morning. For the self-confessed "moody" captain, the hot sugary drink works wonders and Gayle's face emerges from the gloom.
And what a gloomy week it has been. Since arriving only two days before the first Test to a storm of criticism – he was playing in the Indian Premier League, an event not well received – his West Indies side went on to lose the first Test at Lord's by 10 wickets inside three days. "Yeah it's definitely been a rough week," he says, "From when I landed in England it's been rough, and when we lost the game it's been even tougher. We were depressed."
As captain, the 29-year old Jamaican was the inevitable focal point for the blame, a fact that he notes bitterly. There begins a recurring theme of discontent with the role. "It wouldn't have been a big deal," he says, if he hadn't been captain. "That's how life is. All eyes on you, and all things point to you. Once things don't go well, fingers going to point."
In fact it could be argued that the finger pointing should be at the West Indies Cricket Board whose hastily arranged England tour clashed with pre-existing IPL arrangements. When the fall-out hit, Gayle was an easy scapegoat. "Yeah, they [the media] make it look like this [Test] was always here, like I want to choose IPL over this. That's why I said everybody knew this was always going to be the situation, so I don't see why people make it a big fuss and a big deal."
Perhaps the real issue here is the changing face of the international cricket season. For Gayle the fixture congestion will become ever more acute as Twenty20 grows in stature and dominates the calendar. He does not hold much truck with traditionalists like Andrew Strauss who want to try to prevent the onslaught. "The next couple years, I'm sure things are going to be like that. This year it's really jam-packed … we've been on the road 24/7 and you don't get no time off, back and forth, back and forth."
Brooding on the role of the captain Gayle's sullen expression returns, until, suddenly he has an idea. "You want to play?" he says. "I don't mind having a journalist for my captain. I know she wouldn't write anything bad because she captain." The thought of ridding himself of the burden gives him great delight.
He is not the only one. Shivnarine Chanderpaul also hated the captaincy. "I'm pretty much similar to Shiv when it come to everything like talking to persons and stuff," says Gayle. "It is a lot of pressure. You're always in the media … At the time when I was asked [in 2007] I didn't want to be the captain."
Gayle says he was persuaded into the job on a temporary basis, standing in for the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan. "That's when it all started. We won the series and then I said to them, whenever Sarwan is fully fit, I am ready to step down. Maybe they saw something different, something totally different," he muses, "and they asked me to be captain.
"I thought hard about it. I didn't want to be captain, I wanted to have more free time. I didn't want that added pressure at that particular time, but they actually insist, insist, insist, so I said OK. So I thought, just get on with it."
Gayle says he "trained his mind" into the job, overcoming challenges that were unnatural to his personality. His reflections are revealing. He may be one of the Caribbean's biggest celebrities, with his face plastered on billboards all over Jamaica, but he is modest in his depiction of a man who lacked personal development.
"I'm happy because it's done a lot for me as a person. It made me more outspoken, getting to interact with people, to be able to speak to a group – the majority of the time you have to give some sort of speech. You start off slowly, getting better and better, getting that confidence in yourself. It brought that out of me which I had inside but, you know, didn't want to express it – but as a captain you have to."
Softly spoken off the field, he is often described as a "destroyer" on it. But Gayle is reflective in his admission that perhaps he is not cut out for solving West Indies' long-standing problems of leadership. As the older generation bemoan this flashy new wave of players, with their $20m matches and big IPL salaries, Gayle quietly muses that his predecessors do not understand the burden of losing.
"In their time they dominated Test cricket," he says. "They don't know what it is like actually to lose and how to deal with it. They don't know how to deal with losing, and then try and get a couple of wins under our belt." It is a thought expressed with great sadness. And perhaps it is understandable, then, why Gayle feels such enthusiasm to embark on a new Twenty20 era, free from the heavy weight of West Indies' illustrious Test- winning past.
Sky Sports is broadcasting England v West Indies exclusively live and in high definition, continuing tomorrow with the second Test
The West Indies batsman admits he could step down as captain and believes Twenty20 cricket will kill the five-day game
- Anna Kessel
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 May 2009 15.06 BST
- Article history
Downcast West Indies captain Chris Gayle during a nets session at Chester-Le-Street. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PAFrom the moment Chris Gayle descends to the lobby of his London hotel, it appears he does not want to be there. He does not want to be in chilly England, and he does not want to be up early when his preferred habit is to sleep in until 2pm. Then the list continues, and he admits that he does not want to be West Indies captain any more and that he does not particularly care for Test cricket.
"I wouldn't be so sad," says Gayle when asked how he would feel if Test cricket were to die out. He prefers Twenty20 over the traditional game. About the captaincy he is similarly blase. "To be honest with you, there's a possibility I might give it up – I will be giving it up, shortly."
These statements do not come tumbling out; instead they are revealed over the course of an hour that begins with a moody face and the unusual sight of a huge man sipping hot chocolate. "Because it's sweet," he says, "and I'm sweet." He flashes a smile, his first of the morning. For the self-confessed "moody" captain, the hot sugary drink works wonders and Gayle's face emerges from the gloom.
And what a gloomy week it has been. Since arriving only two days before the first Test to a storm of criticism – he was playing in the Indian Premier League, an event not well received – his West Indies side went on to lose the first Test at Lord's by 10 wickets inside three days. "Yeah it's definitely been a rough week," he says, "From when I landed in England it's been rough, and when we lost the game it's been even tougher. We were depressed."
As captain, the 29-year old Jamaican was the inevitable focal point for the blame, a fact that he notes bitterly. There begins a recurring theme of discontent with the role. "It wouldn't have been a big deal," he says, if he hadn't been captain. "That's how life is. All eyes on you, and all things point to you. Once things don't go well, fingers going to point."
In fact it could be argued that the finger pointing should be at the West Indies Cricket Board whose hastily arranged England tour clashed with pre-existing IPL arrangements. When the fall-out hit, Gayle was an easy scapegoat. "Yeah, they [the media] make it look like this [Test] was always here, like I want to choose IPL over this. That's why I said everybody knew this was always going to be the situation, so I don't see why people make it a big fuss and a big deal."
Perhaps the real issue here is the changing face of the international cricket season. For Gayle the fixture congestion will become ever more acute as Twenty20 grows in stature and dominates the calendar. He does not hold much truck with traditionalists like Andrew Strauss who want to try to prevent the onslaught. "The next couple years, I'm sure things are going to be like that. This year it's really jam-packed … we've been on the road 24/7 and you don't get no time off, back and forth, back and forth."
Brooding on the role of the captain Gayle's sullen expression returns, until, suddenly he has an idea. "You want to play?" he says. "I don't mind having a journalist for my captain. I know she wouldn't write anything bad because she captain." The thought of ridding himself of the burden gives him great delight.
He is not the only one. Shivnarine Chanderpaul also hated the captaincy. "I'm pretty much similar to Shiv when it come to everything like talking to persons and stuff," says Gayle. "It is a lot of pressure. You're always in the media … At the time when I was asked [in 2007] I didn't want to be the captain."
Gayle says he was persuaded into the job on a temporary basis, standing in for the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan. "That's when it all started. We won the series and then I said to them, whenever Sarwan is fully fit, I am ready to step down. Maybe they saw something different, something totally different," he muses, "and they asked me to be captain.
"I thought hard about it. I didn't want to be captain, I wanted to have more free time. I didn't want that added pressure at that particular time, but they actually insist, insist, insist, so I said OK. So I thought, just get on with it."
Gayle says he "trained his mind" into the job, overcoming challenges that were unnatural to his personality. His reflections are revealing. He may be one of the Caribbean's biggest celebrities, with his face plastered on billboards all over Jamaica, but he is modest in his depiction of a man who lacked personal development.
"I'm happy because it's done a lot for me as a person. It made me more outspoken, getting to interact with people, to be able to speak to a group – the majority of the time you have to give some sort of speech. You start off slowly, getting better and better, getting that confidence in yourself. It brought that out of me which I had inside but, you know, didn't want to express it – but as a captain you have to."
Softly spoken off the field, he is often described as a "destroyer" on it. But Gayle is reflective in his admission that perhaps he is not cut out for solving West Indies' long-standing problems of leadership. As the older generation bemoan this flashy new wave of players, with their $20m matches and big IPL salaries, Gayle quietly muses that his predecessors do not understand the burden of losing.
"In their time they dominated Test cricket," he says. "They don't know what it is like actually to lose and how to deal with it. They don't know how to deal with losing, and then try and get a couple of wins under our belt." It is a thought expressed with great sadness. And perhaps it is understandable, then, why Gayle feels such enthusiasm to embark on a new Twenty20 era, free from the heavy weight of West Indies' illustrious Test- winning past.
Sky Sports is broadcasting England v West Indies exclusively live and in high definition, continuing tomorrow with the second Test
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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