News

'Gayle is an inspiration'

04/03/10

Chris Gayle is back in the maroon shirt and Windies supporters are expecting great things in Thursday’s Digicel One-Day International Series opener against Zimbabwe at the Guyana National Stadium. New Head Coach Ottis Gibson is happy to see the talismanic left-hander back at the top of the batting order. Ahead of the Digicel Series the coach spoke about having the skipper back in the team unit with Number 45 on his back.

“Skipper Chris Gayle is an inspiration to the guys. He gives them a lift as if they are on cloud nine. We are very happy to have him back in the team and we will be looking to him to give us a good start to the innings as well as providing good leadership on the field,” the coach said.

Gibson has brought some new ideas to the team unit and on Tuesday the Windies had a five-hour training session at the Demerara Cricket Club in Georgetown. They looked at various match-day scenarios, allowing all the players to be fully involved. Gayle said he happy to work with Gibson.

Gayle noted: “We have a new coach and he has brought some new ideas on board and we are happy to work with those new ideas. We have spoken a lot and we have looked at new areas where we need to improve and how we can start that process of improvement. I will do the job that is required I will focus on my batting and try and give the team the start that is needed so we can capitalise on the situation after that.”

Gibson noted that he was happy to work with the skipper and also addressed the issue of the defeat in Sunday’s Digicel T20 International at the Queen’s Park Oval.

“Losing is never easy … it is always hard to take. It is how you bounce back from it that speaks volumes of your cricket. Our fans can expect us to go hard at them on Thursday. We are not in a position to take anybody or anything lightly, hence I can safely say that complacency was definitely not an issue. The guys understand how they need to play in certain situations and that’s what we practised. I must say, judging from how they look, I am impressed with the way things have been going so far,” Gibson said.