MAKE no mistake about it, Mr Christopher Gayle, a former West Indies captain, is one of the great cricketers of our time.

Without doubt, the self-styled “Universe Boss” has been the most dominant name in Twenty20 cricket since that version of the game took on global recognition and popularity in the early 2000s.

Over the last 15 years, the globe-trotting Mr Gayle’s six-hitting and happy persona have made him a cult figure — not least in cricket-mad India.
His record speaks for itself. In 404 T20 games Mr Gayle has scored 13,296 runs, with 22 centuries, at an average of 38.20 and a strike rate of 146.94.
But it would be a mistake to believe his greatness is confined to ‘slam bang’ T20 cricket.
In One-Day Internationals (ODIs) he has scored 10,480 runs and 25 centuries in 301 matches for an average of 37.83.

And cricket traditionalists will remember him as being among the West Indies’ most successful Test match opening batsmen of any era.
In 103 Tests the former West Indies captain scored 7,214 runs with 15 centuries for an average of 42.18. As a bonus, Mr Gayle took 73 wickets bowling off spin.

Yet, for all his wonderful achievements as a player, this newspaper feels compelled — not for the first time — to seriously question Mr Gayle’s judgement and indeed his awareness of his standing as servant of his sport and responsibility as exemplar for young people.

In truth, Mr Gayle’s social media assault on another former West Indies captain, outstanding batsman, former close friend and many-time ally in battle Mr Ramnaresh Sarwan, has left Caribbean cricket fans staggering and disoriented in this awful time of COVID-19.

We note that Mr Sarwan has publicly and categorically refuted Mr Gayle’s allegations.
For our part, we have no way of knowing who speaks truth or not.
But it is obvious that this matter should have been thrashed out at a personal level between adults. By taking it into the public sphere, and especially in the vitriolic manner in which he did it, Mr Gayle showed himself to be manifestly immature, the very fault he said he found with Mr Sarwan.

Clearly too, it has again demonstrated a downside of social media, which all too often seems to attract and nurture thoughtless, poisonous commentary, rather than reasoned conversation.

As another cricketing great Mr Jeffrey Dujon lamented, too many people using social media “just don’t see the need to sit down and talk to each other”.
Sadly, by his outburst, Mr Gayle has managed to not only tarnish the public image of West Indies cricket but more so his own reputation. It seems fair to say that respect for him will have fallen in every corner of the cricket-playing world in what is now sure to be the tail end of his illustrious career.

Sportsmen and women should be reminded that no matter their achievements, they are far better off remaining loyal servants of their sport and fans. They should never reach the stage where they consider themselves bigger than the sport that made them great. ( Reprinted from Jamaica Observer)