This series hasn't been Chris Gayle's finest hour. He turned up 48 hours before
the first Test, spent a lot of time complaining about the cold and, to cap it
all, said he wouldn't mind if Test cricket didn't exist. So, in many respects,
he got what he deserved as the Wisden Trophy was surrendered back to England
after little more than two months.
Ever since his now infamous newspaper interview, Gayle has tried to tone down
his comments without ever sounding convincing. His latest attempt came with a
smile, but that was probably because he can now play one-day cricket for six weeks.
"I'm definitely enjoying the captaincy," he said. "It has done a lot for me as
an individual and I can't be ungrateful and say it hasn't. I appreciate it and
am happy to lead the West Indies whenever and wherever. We have a good bunch of
guys here and it's a learning process for them. For me I'm still enjoying the
cricket and if I'm not it wouldn't make sense to carry on."
What made Gayle's comments about Test cricket even more disappointing was that
he'd put so much effort into securing the series in the Caribbean. He scored two
impressive hundreds, bowled and batted with an injured hamstring, and instilled
a determination not seen from a West Indies side for a long time. However, like
the economy, it is dangerous to talk about green shoots of recovery when it
comes to West Indies cricket.
"It's a disappointing result," he said. "We have ourselves to blame to be
honest, it all started from that first Test where we dropped too many catches
when we had England on the run. To play catch-up cricket in these conditions was
always going to be difficult. But we were here to do a job and we didn't do it
properly.
"I'm disappointed to hand back the trophy after a short period of time. This
tour wasn't in place then it came on board so it was something we had to deal
with and it we didn't go about it properly. We struggled in the conditions and
it would have been nice to have bat and ball clicking at the same time which
didn't happen."
An away series during the English early season was always going to present a
huge challenge for West Indies but, showing that he had one captaincy skill well
honed, Gayle tried to look for the positives and hoped his young players would
benefit.
"This was a chance for us to come and improve our overseas cricket which didn't
happen, but we should use this as a big experience for us. I learned a lot and
I'm sure the other guys gained a lot," he said. "It's all new for them and it's
an opportunity for them to be part of this team. It's never going to be easy for
them, but it's good they get a taste of Test cricket and hopefully they can
become better."
At least Gayle can now look forward to plenty of one-day cricket, and West
Indies shouldn't be underestimated in the shorter formats even though England
recently won 3-2 in the Caribbean. When West Indies toured in 2007 they lost the
Test series 3-0 before bouncing back to share the Twenty20s 1-1 and take the
one-dayers 2-1.
"We have to put this series behind us and look forward to the ODIs," Gayle said.
"We have the guys to do the job. We are representing West Indies so have to give
our best." It certainly can't go much worse than the last two weeks
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