… Caribbean Life correspondent feels he should resign now
GUYANESE-born Caribbean Life sports correspondent George Whyte believes West Indies skipper Christopher Gayle should be replaced as captain of the Regional side as soon as possible.
According to White, the 30-year-old Jamaican left-handed opening batsman, who has led the West Indies in 20 of his 88 Tests since taking over nearly three years ago winning three of those matches, should resign now instead of waiting for the selectors to drop the axe on him as captain of the team.
“I believe that Gayle should be replaced as the captain of the team. His captaincy is very weak in areas of using his bowlers as well as field settings and in the best interest of West Indies cricket, he should be replaced. In fact, the gentleman thing to do is resign now as captain instead of having the selectors drop the axe on him,” stated Whyte.
He continued: “It’s evident that the strainof the captaincy is affecting Gayle’s batting which, to my mind, is one of the reasons he should relinquish same. Let some other individual take on that strain, as he (Gayle) focuses on setting the pace at the top of the order.
“Jamaica relinquished him of that responsibility, so he can better serve them as a feared opening batsman and certainly that’s what the West Indies need from Gayle, for him to be the feared opener he is on the international scene.”
The 52-year-old Whyte left Guyana 31 years ago and has been covering West Indies cricket for the Caribbean Life newspapers back in New York where he made presentations to Lennox Cush, Assad Fudadin and Ron Matthews, for the past 17 years.
When asked who is the best possible candidate to take over the reins of the captaincy, Whyte singled out Trinidad and Tobago’s (T&T) Daren Ganga, while stating that Guyana’s Ramnaresh Sarwan is not interested in same and he would not suggest Dwayne Bravo.
“Judging from the way he (Sarwan) gave up the vice-captaincy position in New Zealand last year, it is evident that he is not interested in the captaincy of the West Indies team, while Dwayne Bravo is not ready for that role.
In fact, he stated that he is not ready for it and is willing to throw his support wholeheartedly behind Gayle. So to my mind, the best possible candidate would be Ganga, for whom I am calling on the selectors to bring back into the team for Test matches.”
Whyte also believes the West Indies should select individual captains for both Test and limited overs cricket, hence his nomination of Ganga as the captain of the Test team, with Bravo leading the side in limited overs competitions.

WICB and WIPA
The continued sour relationship between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) is of concern to Whyte who feels same has petered down to the players.
“As CEO of WIPA, Dinanath Ramnarine has not been having a good working relationship with the WICB and to my mind, this has been affecting the players.”
However, while he (Ramnarine) is negotiating with the WICB on behalf of the players, he should remember his responsibilities as head of WIPA, which is to ensure the players up their performance output,” said Whyte.
A point to note – during Gayle’s present tenure as captain of the West Indies team, he is yet to have a full-strength team as injury to some of the leading players including Sarwan, Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards just to name a few, has left him with a depleted side at times.
While some may clamour for his removal as the captain of the team, citing his removal as the captain of the Jamaica team, what should be highlighted instead is giving him the necessary tools to get the job done commendably well.