“All Hail – Christopher Henry Gayle – 100 Tests not out!”

May 05, 2014 Sports

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Colin E. H. Croft
He may not be the classical opening batsman that many, especially old timers, would prefer, nor would he always be the most patient batsman in the world when at the crease.
But when it comes to being dynamic, calculating, confident, destructive, effective, mostly ultra-aggressive in his batting, properly productive too, then Christopher Henry Gayle is your man!
Come June 08, at Sabina Park, one of the premier, and oldest, Test cricket grounds in the Caribbean, where many a record has been broken, and, except for any additional injuries, Gayle will make his one-hundredth Test appearance for West Indies.

A special few of our cricketers have given such long and wonderfully stellar service to this region!
Gayle epitomizes the newer breed of batsman of this last decade; very tall, angular, physically strong and hard hitting.
He can be compared to recently-retired South African captain Graeme Smith and recently decommissioned and excluded Englishman with South African roots, Kevin Pietersen.
These are all really big, strong boys who have hit the cricket ball many a mile away!
Not since the likes of (Sir) Clyde Walcott and Clive Lloyd can batsman anywhere be compared to the set that arrived this last decade, built more like most fast bowlers of 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, than like batsmen!
Gayle’s overall returns, to date, from international cricket have been excellent, astoundingly so, really, given the turmoil and upheavals his career for especially West Indies seemed to always encounter:
99 Tests, 6933 runs, highest score 333, 15 centuries, average 42.01; then 255 ODI’s, 8743 runs, h/s 153 no, avg. 37.52; also 42 T-20-I’s, 1239 runs, h/s 117, avg. 32.60, with an outstanding strike rate in T-20-I’s of 84.22.
Those are good figures for any batsman, mostly an opening batsman, who many still think is not “normal”; whatever that is; regardless of his position in the batting order.
This new breed of cricketer does not always confirm to what “normal” is, but, at least now, for his 100th Test, all seems wonderfully well with the world and especially Gayle’s presence in West Indies teams!
Gayle might not qualify fully as being a classical all-rounder either, but as a right arm off-spinner who does not normally turn the ball much, he has done a relatively good job for West Indies too.
72 Test wickets at 42.00 avg., best bowling 5-34; 157 ODI wickets at 35.38 avg., best bowling 5-46, economy rate 4.74; and 15 T-20-I wickets at 24.00 runs average, economy rate 7.17 runs, are  collectively nothing to sneeze at or ignore.  Gayle, the bowler, has done his part well too!
Of course, it is in T-20 format, internationally, or for teams world-wide, especially in IPL, that Gayle has really excelled.
Indeed, it is as if T-20 cricket was especially made for him, as he is still considered as one of the most feared T-20 batsmen anywhere, from Bulawayo to Brisbane to Barbados to Bangalore.
Not many West Indian cricketers have managed 100 Tests or more, a really special bunch of players who have endured politics, selection policies, inefficiencies, inter-island jealousies, bad management and any number of odd situations that could have affected their presence and production in West Indies teams.
According to cricket web-site “ESPN/Cric-info”, Clive Lloyd (110 Tests), Gordon Greenidge (108 Tests), Sir Vivian Richards (121 Tests), Desmond Haynes (116 Tests), Courtney Walsh (132 Tests), Carl Hooper (102 Tests), Brian Lara (131 Tests) and Shiv Chanderpaul (153 Tests), are the only West Indies players, to date, of the nearly three hundred that have played Tests so far, to get to triple figures appearances in Tests.
That Gayle will join this erstwhile band of superlative Caribbean cricketing marauders in completing 100 Tests, in two weeks’ time, is in itself a great honor and shows magnificent diligence and longevity!
These special guys have endured and made whole the positives and great honors that representing the seven and a half million West Indies populace, and its diaspora, brings.
Hail Christopher Henry Gayle and Company!
Gayle has certainly seen tremendous upheaval in West Indies cricket, after his Test debut in 2000 v Zimbabwe at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad & Tobago, a game that West Indies should have lost, after setting Zimbabwe 99 to win, but somehow won, thanks to (Sir) Curtly Ambrose and Walsh.
Gayle figures in that game, batting at No. 3, were 33 and 00.  He did get 3-25 in Zimbabwe’s 1st innings.
With such experiences, of course Gayle was also made West Indies Test captain, a situation that has the jury still out as to if he was useful, comfortable, innovative, positive and successful.
Given full team captaincy in 2007/8 for WI Test tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe, after captaining in ODI’s and T-20-I’s in England the summer previously, Gayle was celebrated by his team for being “Mr. Cool” and most communicative, as WI won his first Test game as captain, v South Africa, by 128 runs.
Not long afterwards, he too became immersed in WIPA/WICB situations and was promptly dropped.
Nonetheless, Christopher Henry Gayle deserves all of the accolades he will get for his 100th Test!  Enjoy!

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