The enigma that is Chris Gayle

[ChrisQ]

I'm inclined to say good riddance when it comes to Gayle. The way he and Sarwan played in the World Cup I'm very much inclined to believe they threw the games (especially when Sarwan got out to England with a rubbish shot). Gayle has a lot of potential but he will never live up to it since he doesn't have the right attitude for it. He just doesn't value his wicket. It's quite amazing that he and Lara hold the joint record for the most ODI hundreds by a West Indian (19 each) but they also hold the record for having the most ducks by West Indian centurions along with Phil Simmons and Gus Logie (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/westindie ... ;type=team). Gayle has 20 ducks and the other three have 14 each. The only legendary player who comes close is Dessie Haynes with 13 ducks in 238 matches (more matches than Gayle, Logie or Simmons by the way). With Gayle you are just as likely (in fact more likely) to get a duck as to get a hundred whenever he comes to the crease, meanwhile players like Shiv, Viv and Greenidge seemed to struggle to reach even 10 ducks. And this is a general pattern that also holds true for test matches (http://stats.espncricinfo.com/westindie ... ;type=team). Lara and Gayle have more ducks than hundreds whilst players like Shiv, Viv, Greenidge, Lloyd, Sobers and Haynes have more hundreds than ducks. With other countries' openers it is similar. Tendulkar has as many ducks as Gayle (20) but from twice as many matches and with 2 and 1/2 times as many hundreds.

To be honest Gayle should probably have been dropped sometime ago or they should have batted him lower down the order. He cannot call himself an ODI opener considering the way he goes about it. If we compare him to two other regular openers (Sachin Tendulkar and Graeme Smith) we see that they have contrasting modes with their own individual drawbacks but somehow Gayle manages to combine their drawbacks with his own style.

Batsmen can go for long times without scoring a hundred. That is to be expected. What they do inbetween though is important. Gayle can easily go for long spells without a hundred (the latest spell is 34 matches). The century-less spells (in terms of matches where he has had to bat) since his career began have been as follows: 30 (but he wasn't an opener for first dozen or so of those matches), 20, 1, 0, 10, 10, 3, 4, 11, 14, 4, 12, 10, 3, 0, 33, 0, 1 (in which he scored a duck of course), 4 and 34. On average he goes 10 matches without scoring a century (9 matches if we only go by those dry spells since he became almost exclusively an opener), 10 out of the 20 spells have consisted of 10 matches or more without a century and 89% of his matches are century-less. There is nothing wrong with this as some other openers (Graeme Smith for example) can have similar dry spells.

Graeme Smith (opened in his first match) has had the following dry spells (matches inbetween 100s): 56, 1, 3, 0, 10, 9, 42, 12, 28. On average he goes for a whopping 18 matches without scoring a century. 5 out of the 9 spells have consisted of 10 matches or more without a century and 94% of his matches have been century-less. Yet Smith has a slighter higher average (39.49 v. 39.06 for Gayle) despite going longer without centuries. Crucially despite playing in 171 matches to Gayles 228, Smith has the same number of 50s (43) as Gayle and has 7 ducks to his 8 centuries. Obviously Smith is more consistent between centuries than Gayle because for Gayle to have had the same proportion of 50s as Smith, Gayle would have needed to make 57 50s and not 43.

Sachin Tendulkar has a different mode of play. These are his dry spells. 75 (wasn't an opener in some of the initial matches though), 4, 5, 5, 6, 2, 4, 2, 5, 13, 5, 7, 29, 5, 0, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 2, 5, 7, 4, 14, 12, 6, 4, 5, 1, 3, 11, 2, 11, 8, 3, 9, 15, 12, 4, 13, 36, 8, 2, 5, 6, 3, 2, 4. Tendulkar has twice the number of matches that Gayle has but more than twice the number of hundreds (48 instead of 38 so 2 and 1/2 times as many hundreds). His average is 8 matches without a hundred (7 if we include only those spells since he became almost exclusively an opener). Only 11 out of his 49 spells have consisted of 10 matches or more without scoring a century and 87% of his matches are century-less. So even though Sachin has the same number of ducks (20) as Gayle he has vastly more hundreds and is more consistent in when he scores his hundreds. Tendulkar also has 95 half-centuries which again is just a bit more than twice as much as Gayle has. So it is no surprise that his ODI average is 45.16 as he is more consistent when it comes to hundreds and fifties than Gayle.

One key similarity between Graeme Smith and Sachin Tendulkar is that in only 4-5% of their matches have they ever made ducks. Even Dessie Haynes (the closest West Indian legend with a record of numbers of ducks that comes close to Gayle) had gotten ducks in only 5.4% of his matches. With Gayle it 8.7%. So whereas Smith may not score as many hundreds as Gayle, he also tends to score more often than Gayle. Tendulkar is obviously in class by himself, but it is interesting that Smith and Tendulkar both have similar figures (percentage wise) when it comes to ducks, whilst Gayle is way ahead (or way behind). If Gayle scored less ducks and scored more 50s and 100s his ODI average would probably be between 41 and 43 now and not just barely over 39.

[mikesiva]

CQ, I don't think anyone is seriously saying that Gayle is better than Sachin or Smith....

But he's the best opening batsman the West Indies have, and therein lies the problem. As we talk, Gayle's just concluded a no-holds-barred interview with Jamaican radio station KLAS-FM, where he slammed the WICB CEO, Otis Gibson, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. He sympathised with Sarwan on his treatment by the WICB, and said that if it wasn't for WIPA, the administration would be walking all over them.

Former Jamaica and WI fast bowler Darren Powell has announced his retirement, and took the opportunity to slam Gibson and the WICB, coming down strongly on the side of Gayle....

“Based on what I read about coach Ottis Gibson saying about Gayle not being tactically aware and is not a natural leader, there is no reason to target Gayle. For West Indies cricket to move forward, it is not about focusing on Gayle or the senior players on the team. When Gibson took the job as coach, I believed that he was the right person for it. But right now his mind seems to be elsewhere and he is not focusing on what should matter… the development of the cricket from the lower levels. Gibson’s mind seems to be too much on the senior players. We need for him to get the senior players to perform, yes, but at the same time we need to see changes made in the development of players from the youth level. We all want West Indies cricket to move forward, but we can’t spend so much time now focusing on Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, or the Bravos. We need to look from the Under-15 level and structure the game in such a way that when these same players get to 22-years-old they can match the other players on other international teams of the same age. We’re having guys coming up for the West Indies and playing two or three games and getting dropped. When you look at some of the guys who played in the World Cup, like Andre Russell for example, if he were a weak individual, he would not have played another game, because he performed well and got dropped for someone who is there just to spin a toss,” Powell said.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Da ... z1K6EHkJpg

[lbw375]

Chris Gayle responded to media speculation today on a LIVE radio interview on KLAS Sports Radio in Kingston Jamaica and put the blame for the West Indies's poor performance in the World Cup and subsequent dash to the IPL squarely at the feet of the WICB.

Highlights of Gayle's interview :

- "No one called me and said anything" before or after the headlines that said "Gayle dropped".

- "The ONLY communication was my physio CJ message got a BBM from me updating him on my progress. I never got a fitness program from him"

- "I was forced to make this decision based on what was happening around me. Based on what happened to Sarwan and Chanderpaul. I wanted to play. I wanted to represented West Indies. That was my ultimate goal. Based on what was happening, I had to make that decision. An opportunity presented itself... a T20 squad was named, an ODI squad was named... listen, I had no other choice but to take the IPL contract."

- "As soon as I asked for NOC. Everything mashup! Email start coming in left and right."

- "I got a note from CEO to sign the World CUp contract. I replied to CEO asking if WIPA approved of the contract. The reply from CEO, copied by all three selectors and coach and lawyer and CEO himself... stating that we have someone on standby, if you don't sign this contract, you will be replaced for the World Cup. That eat me out during the World Cup."

- "I'm the perfect target for them. They want to get rid of me. They want to get rid of WIPA. That's all this is about... to get rid of WIPA."

- "I called a meeting with the coach and team to ask if he said bad things about me... That was my last game as captain. He denied all this. I didn't know all these things were written about me b this coach. If there is one coach that got my all, it was Ottis Gibson."

- "I don't know what they trying. They turn to Bravo now. They gave him the vice captain. They take away the captain from me and they take away the VC from Bravo... now they gone back to Bravo... I don't know what they trying."

?- "They say they have unproductive talk with Chris Gayle. I wrote to board, asked board for simple NOC for Big Bash and IPL. I never heard from there. Sri Lanka tour came up, I got a triple hundred in the Test match. THe CEO then called askign waht I wanted to do pertaining to IPL. I said I'd love to play full IPL. CEO said "no, that can't work..."

- "In SL, when I got the triple century. I said to myself that I'll give Test cricket a break. I was going through a lot. I was going back and forth in my mind. Pressure was piling up. I didn't make any decision. I didn't know what CEO discussed with Bravo and Pollard. I didn't know their productive talk with 'the doctor'."

- "Just before the IPL auction, I got an email from teh CEO if I'm retiring from Test cricket. I found that very strange. IT sounded like he wanted me to retire so he can continue to screw me over."

- "They want to question me about my commitment to WI cricket. We bruk finger and bat. You know who is the most hardcore cricketer for West INdies?!?!? You know who that is.... Chris Gayle."

- "They threatening players. They're using the fitness thing to threaten players. You can make ten ducks in a row and still make the team... as long as you fit like a fiddle... That's the system they have now... Fitness, fitness, fitness..."

- "every coach come with the same format... fitness, fitness, fitness... 24/7. Man to man, Australia team no fitter than we. You think India fitter than we?"

"Ah joke Coach Ottis Gibson ah mek!"

- "Wavell played the T20 World Cup. He was 32 yrs. The coach look to him and say Wavell, you too old, yu not in my program. Two days later, Dale Richards came in .. and he's older than Wavell."

- "My bat do my talking. You check the stats. That's how I survived for so long... You check the stats.."

?- "I was called into a room in front of all the selectors... people in front of computers... asking why I didn't sign (retainer)contract. I told them it did not sound right. The contract covers everything from WI cricket to local club cricket. If Lucas want me to play, I can't go and play nowhere else. The contract ties me down to everything... to WI, to Jamaica, to club level..."

"The WICB can stop me from everything... they can determine every move I make."

- "I didn't sign the retainer because I didn't want to be bogged down. They have someone on the computer taking minutes. They can publish it publicly and let people see what my explanation was."

- "I wanted to go and captain the team at the World Cup. I was in a meeting and they begged me to take it. Before SA series, Ottis Gibson had jsut come on board. Gibson begged me to stay as captain."

- "That's why I couldn't believe those things he (Gibson) said about me. He saying I lacked leadership. But he was the bwling coach of England and he knew he was getting the WI job. He *begged* me to stay as captain."

"He was saying "Stay Chris, I'm coming..."

- "The coach is a user. That's what he is. He is a user."

- "I hope this interview is going all over the world. I'm clearing my name. Don't come putting me as a bad apple."

- "Another thing... as much as people want to look at WIPA as bad. Current players and players to come in teh future, if there's no WIPA, y'all are going to suffer."

"Yall should thank WIPA. WIPA has done a lot for players locally, internationally, grassroots..."

"Players literally come to me..they don't know nothing about WIPA. They asking me about WIPA... saying that board members complain and saying they shouldn't get involved with WIPA."

- "Ramnarine has done everything to educate the players. But the players listen to board members. Players should thank WIPA for everything."

- "You think that if I didn't get an IPL contract.. you think I would get a layaway like Pollard and Bravo?... Them say they will side with those two... and show up Chris Gayle..."

- "The CEO had a discussion with the players... he was cursing Pollard, saying he was money-hungry... He asked Pollard if 2020 was real cricket."

- "Who the people want to come watch? Nuh Chris Gayle?" "Dem can't trick me"

- "Me and Sarwan sit down and talk after the World Cup. Sarwan was messed up mentally. The coach messed up the man mentally. The players were not in the right frame of mind."

- "Sarwan was batting without a free mind. Players told me they lost confidence. No confidence at all. A player speak his mind in team meeting openly... The player said his piece... After that, he never play a World Cup match. But me talk with my mouth and me talk with my bat."

- "We won a couple of series in between. I beat him when he was coach (of England). I can't sleep properly. I need to get this off my chest. I want everybody to print what I said, I want to clear the air and I want them to ease up. WICB, back up offa my back."

- "I'm available for selection for West Indies. I'm still the hardest fighting cricket for WI. Me willing fe dead out for WI cricket. Some things I do, nuff players never do yet."

"One leg, me tek injection, and still go mek runs. Tek catch with one hand. Nuff man sit down and cock up dem foot."

- "I wasn't selected for IPL originally at auction because of email that was being sent that Chris Gayle won't be available..."

- "I respect Sammy long time. But it was not the right time for him to be captain. He wasn't cemented in the team. It created animosity in the team within the final XI. We could never get the balance right. In the ODI format, it messed up the XI (to play Sammy)"

- "Why do they want to stop my earning? I see things publish in the media..on the internet... about what they are "erning

- "I cna't stop bigging up WIPA. WIPA mek we eat food... mek we contract in order. WIPA is 24/7 in the corner for WI players. Players need to understand that. If it wasn't for WIPA, you'd still be earning $2.00 for first class players."

- "THey don't like Ramnarine because him talk the truth. They don't like the truth. The truth always hurts."

- "I'm not boasting or anything. Whether I'm captain or not, I can still get the best out of players. The respect level is still high. Whether I am captain or not."

- "Stop putting too much pressure on the players. Give them some leeway. Every particular coach come thru... focus on one thing only.. the physical part. I see it as a punishment. We lose test match, we get 20 laps. You have to do 20 laps around the field."

- "You can't have people running up and down like dem a fool..."

- "They making too much press release now. Nobody knows what Chris thinking. They going overboard now, putting out all kinds of releases. So I decided to clear the air."

[amitb]

Its hard to blame Gayle at all for this. WICB has been playing their political cards for some time now.

[chandersgirl]

Wow!!!!!

[SaintPowelly]

WOW, that is quite a read to say the least.

It certainly explains his 300+ against Sri Lanka, I cant/couldn't explain exactly what it was but it was such a determined innings .

[ChrisQ]

CQ, I don't think anyone is seriously saying that Gayle is better than Sachin or Smith....

But he's the best opening batsman the West Indies have, and therein lies the problem. As we talk, Gayle's just concluded a no-holds-barred interview with Jamaican radio station KLAS-FM, where he slammed the WICB CEO, Otis Gibson, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. He sympathised with Sarwan on his treatment by the WICB, and said that if it wasn't for WIPA, the administration would be walking all over them.

I refuse to believe that a fella who scores more ducks than centuries is "the best opening batsman" that West Indies have. The reason why nobody seriously thinks Gayle is better than Sachin or Smith is because everyone knows that Gayle isn't better than them. But that wasn't my bone of contention. My bone is that Gayle should at least be better than Smith, yet somehow (either poor work ethic or just plain bad luck) he allows Smith to have a higher average than him despite Smith scoring centuries less frequently than he does.

Former Jamaica and WI fast bowler Darren Powell has announced his retirement, and took the opportunity to slam Gibson and the WICB, coming down strongly on the side of Gayle....

“Based on what I read about coach Ottis Gibson saying about Gayle not being tactically aware and is not a natural leader, there is no reason to target Gayle. For West Indies cricket to move forward, it is not about focusing on Gayle or the senior players on the team. When Gibson took the job as coach, I believed that he was the right person for it. But right now his mind seems to be elsewhere and he is not focusing on what should matter… the development of the cricket from the lower levels. Gibson’s mind seems to be too much on the senior players. We need for him to get the senior players to perform, yes, but at the same time we need to see changes made in the development of players from the youth level. We all want West Indies cricket to move forward, but we can’t spend so much time now focusing on Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, or the Bravos. We need to look from the Under-15 level and structure the game in such a way that when these same players get to 22-years-old they can match the other players on other international teams of the same age. We’re having guys coming up for the West Indies and playing two or three games and getting dropped. When you look at some of the guys who played in the World Cup, like Andre Russell for example, if he were a weak individual, he would not have played another game, because he performed well and got dropped for someone who is there just to spin a toss,” Powell said.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Da ... z1K6EHkJpg

Powell. The same Powell who although super fit, probably couldn't take a wicket even if the batsmen he was bowling to was attempting to get out and fix the match. Fount of wisdom that one.

[SaintPowelly]

Powell. The same Powell who although super fit, probably couldn't take a wicket even if the batsmen he was bowling to was attempting to get out and fix the match. Fount of wisdom that one.

Cant dis-agree with you on that, he was awful for Hampshire

[GGAS]

Thats quite strong from Gayle! He may have a point though, sadly.

[amitb]

Former Jamaica and WI fast bowler Darren Powell has announced his retirement, and took the opportunity to slam Gibson and the WICB, coming down strongly on the side of Gayle....

“Based on what I read about coach Ottis Gibson saying about Gayle not being tactically aware and is not a natural leader, there is no reason to target Gayle. For West Indies cricket to move forward, it is not about focusing on Gayle or the senior players on the team. When Gibson took the job as coach, I believed that he was the right person for it. But right now his mind seems to be elsewhere and he is not focusing on what should matter… the development of the cricket from the lower levels. Gibson’s mind seems to be too much on the senior players. We need for him to get the senior players to perform, yes, but at the same time we need to see changes made in the development of players from the youth level. We all want West Indies cricket to move forward, but we can’t spend so much time now focusing on Gayle, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, or the Bravos. We need to look from the Under-15 level and structure the game in such a way that when these same players get to 22-years-old they can match the other players on other international teams of the same age. We’re having guys coming up for the West Indies and playing two or three games and getting dropped. When you look at some of the guys who played in the World Cup, like Andre Russell for example, if he were a weak individual, he would not have played another game, because he performed well and got dropped for someone who is there just to spin a toss,” Powell said.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Da ... z1K6EHkJpg

Powell. The same Powell who although super fit, probably couldn't take a wicket even if the batsmen he was bowling to was attempting to get out and fix the match. Fount of wisdom that one.

What has someone's wicket taking ability gotta do with his ability to speak sense

[ChrisQ]

- "In SL, when I got the triple century. I said to myself that I'll give Test cricket a break.

This probably explains why after the triple century he couldn't make 50....

Oddly enough he admits to thinking he will give test cricket a break (plus there was that famous interview) but then later sounds upset that the CEO asked him if he was retiring from test cricket. Not sure what he expects when gives conflicting signals as to his intention: wants to be captain but wants to be free to play the entire season of IPL; wants to give test cricket a break and gives an interview in which he doesn't seem to rate test cricket highly but then doesn't want people to question him on retirement. Sounds like he needs a psychiatrist.

- "They threatening players. They're using the fitness thing to threaten players. You can make ten ducks in a row and still make the team... as long as you fit like a fiddle... That's the system they have now... Fitness, fitness, fitness..."

- "every coach come with the same format... fitness, fitness, fitness... 24/7. Man to man, Australia team no fitter than we. You think India fitter than we?"

Okay, now I know Chris Gayle must be smoking some hardcore weed. Is he seriously suggesting that the West Indies team is as fit as Australia's or India's? When was the last time Tendulkar pulled up whilst running because he had a weak hamstring like Gayle used to have for most of his career? Gayle really doesn't know his cricket history. The Lloyd-Richards era was built upon Dennis Waight's fitness regimen.

- "My bat do my talking. You check the stats. That's how I survived for so long... You check the stats.."

Yep and the stats indicate he was an inconsistent player. 20 ducks and 19 centuries with 43 half-centuries in 220+ matches when lesser, more unfit mortals somehow manage to better his average. One thing he was consistent in though was his inconsistency. He also has more ducks in tests than centuries.

?- "I was called into a room in front of all the selectors... people in front of computers... asking why I didn't sign (retainer)contract. I told them it did not sound right. The contract covers everything from WI cricket to local club cricket. If Lucas want me to play, I can't go and play nowhere else. The contract ties me down to everything... to WI, to Jamaica, to club level..."

Well surely if the contract did cover even territorial and club cricket it would be void since the 2005 agreement allowing players to move freely would mean they couldn't tie any player down to any particular territory. It's odd that he bigs up Ramnarine (who if I'm not mistaken is a lawyer or studies law or something) but neither he nor Ramnarine seem to realize this. Surely if this was in the contract Ramnarine would have had an easy time challenging it in court. If I'm not mistaken, some local boards also give it out contracts, so how could the "great" Ramnarine somehow miss this potential conflict between contracts?

- "Who the people want to come watch? Nuh Chris Gayle?" "Dem can't trick me"

I guess he hasn't really looked in the stands lately. At home anyway people stay away whether Gayle is playing or not.

- "Me and Sarwan sit down and talk after the World Cup. Sarwan was messed up mentally. The coach messed up the man mentally. The players were not in the right frame of mind."

- "Sarwan was batting without a free mind. Players told me they lost confidence. No confidence at all. A player speak his mind in team meeting openly... The player said his piece... After that, he never play a World Cup match. But me talk with my mouth and me talk with my bat."

Well unsurprisingly Gayle is confirming that a lot of current Windies players (himself and Sarwan included) are weak minded. So Sarwan gets dropped once and suddenly can't play again? No wonder West Indies can't win. These players are more fragile than fine china (but are infinitely less valuable it seems given how they "perform").

- "We won a couple of series in between. I beat him when he was coach (of England). I can't sleep properly. I need to get this off my chest. I want everybody to print what I said, I want to clear the air and I want them to ease up. WICB, back up offa my back."

- "I'm available for selection for West Indies. I'm still the hardest fighting cricket for WI. Me willing fe dead out for WI cricket. Some things I do, nuff players never do yet."

Certainly doesn't sound that way though.

- "I respect Sammy long time. But it was not the right time for him to be captain. He wasn't cemented in the team. It created animosity in the team within the final XI. We could never get the balance right. In the ODI format, it messed up the XI (to play Sammy)"

Yup, blame Sammy whilst not blaming Sammy. I suppose now Sammy is responsible for Gayle getting ducks. So he earlier claims he doesn't want to be "bogged down" hence his not signing the retainer contract but then practically blames Sammy for taking up the mantle that he wasn't willing to get "bogged down" for.

- "Why do they want to stop my earning? I see things publish in the media..on the internet... about what they are "erning

Which is why they offered him a contract with monetary remuneration naturally, because they wanted to stop him from earning.

- "Stop putting too much pressure on the players. Give them some leeway. Every particular coach come thru... focus on one thing only.. the physical part. I see it as a punishment. We lose test match, we get 20 laps. You have to do 20 laps around the field."

Ahah! So he really is averse to fitness training. Why is he a sportsman again? He doesn't think it odd that "every particular coach" that came through took stock of the players and came to one conclusion; poor fitness? Surely he can't be saying that all of those coaches including Dyson were stupid and he knew perfectly well how fit he was?

- "You can't have people running up and down like dem a fool..."

Funnily enough when I watched the Australia-West Indies series here at home I saw quite a few Australian "fools" (Aus players as well coaching staff for both Australia and WI) running laps around the park and they were doing it for fun.

[chandersgirl]

I hope something good comes out of all this. Our players have a touch more passion and play with even more maturity and the board do the right tings to make our cricket more competitive. Anyways I doubt anysuch thing will happen.

[SaintPowelly]

Chris, Do you just have a genuine hatred for Chris Gayle ?? It sounds like you have an axe to grind with him. ( much like me with Afridi )

[amitb]

ChrisQ is employed by WICB it seems

[SaintPowelly]

ChrisQ is employed by WICB it seems

Chris is his disguise..its really Ottis Gibson.