CASTRIES, St Lucia CMC – Chief Executive Officer of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Ernest Hilaire has affirmed that West Indies captain Chris Gayle will be available for the One Day International (ODI) series against Zimbabwe and that there is a simple reason he will not be appearing in Sunday’s Twenty20 clash.
Hilaire said Gayle is being given time-off on “compassionate” grounds.
“Chris Gayle went to Australia, whilst there his mother was ill and he had to come back. He went back to Australia. He has been back in Australia for the rest of the Test series. He was there for the Kentucky Bash. He was there for the One-day series and the Twenty20.
“We thought, in discussion with him, that he should probably go home for a few days to see his mother, to be with her then join the team in Guyana,” Hilaire told reporters here at a news conference Tuesday.
Hilaire said it was on humane and compassionate grounds that the West Indies captain should be allowed a few days to touch base with his family and to see his mother,” Hilaire said.
Denesh Ramdin will lead the Windies in Sunday’s T20 and Hilaire asserted that Gayle would be available for the five-match One-Day International series which bowls off in Guyana next Thursday.
“Players are leaving Australia and those on the Twenty/20 team are going straight to Trinidad. I am fully supportive of Chris getting a few days off to go and see his family, be with his mother, then join the team. There is no change to the captaincy of the West Indies team as such,” Hilaire stated.