His sick mother now discharged from hospital in Jamaica, Chris Gayle will be jetting his way back to Brisbane to arrive on Wednesday in time for the first cricket Test at the Gabba.
His sick mother now discharged from hospital in Jamaica, Chris Gayle will be jetting his way back to Brisbane to arrive on Wednesday in time for the first cricket Test at the Gabba.
Dubbed cricket's Mr Cool, the laidback West Indies captain had been granted permission by team management to be at his ailing mother's bedside following a heart problem.
Doubts have been expressed as to whether he will have recovered sufficiently from the emotional trauma and marathon dash via Los Angeles, given the huge time zone difference.
However, Gayle is no stranger to virtually heading straight into a match after a flight. Earlier this year he arrived in England from the Indian Premier League in South Africa barely 48 hours before the first Test.
On that occasion, the West Indies were humbled 2-0 and Gayle was largely blamed for the whitewash.
Preparing to return to Australia yesterday, Gayle had posted on Twitter that his mother would be released from hospital today, Caribbean time, but then updated the message to read: "As I tweet doc call and say she can leave tonight even better, just want to thank everyone for prayers an support an (stet) best wishes."
Upon arrival with his team in Australia last week, Gayle had stressed that he was the man to revive and unify his side after the recent turmoil of the players' strike against their Board.
There is a slim possibility of the tour selection committee leaving out the marauding opening batsman from the first Test because of jet lag but they will ponder any such decision very prudently given Gayle's importance to the side in terms of morale and given the fact that the tourists have only opening batsmen Gayle and Adrian Barath to choose from to play on Australia's most challenging wicket.
Although Gayle has a modest Test average of 39.58 and scored only 10 and 33 in 2005, the only time he has played in Brisbane, the tourists will be depending heavily on their captain for inspiration and to get them off to a solid start.
Although most Australian critics and commentators have written off the West Indians' chances in the series, the players have typically refused to do so.
Opening batsman Simon Katich told the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday: "You'd be a fool to suggest that they're not going to perform well. I think there's a lot made of the West Indies but I think you look at their line-up and they've got some very good players in there.
"I mean, guys like (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul, (Ramnaresh) Sarwan, Gayle I don't know whether Gayle's back in time but they've got (Dwayne) Bravo, they've got a lot of very good cricketers so it's just a matter of them getting out there and playing some good cricket. I'm certainly not going to be taking them lightly."
Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin spoke of the West Indians' unpredictability.
"They are one of those teams that are very very unpredictable, they are hard to prepare for, you don't know what you are going to get on the day," he said.
"You can get a world-class team that are high in spirit and plays great cricket or you can get the other end."
