Gayle confident of beating Australia

Despite injury concerns surrounding Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath, West Indies skipper Chris Gayle is confident his team can come up trumps in the Perth Test starting today.

Gayle confident of beating Australia

Chanderpaul has a finger injury, sustained in the Adelaide Test, and Barath pulled a hamstring during practice.u00a0

A decision on their fitness will be taken before start of play today. Travis Dowlin and Narsingh Deonarine have been placed on the standby list.

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle

Australia, too, have injury worries. Peter Siddle has been ruled out with a hamstring injury and spin bowler Nathan Hauritz (Gayle handed him the ultimate insult saying the Australian is "like I'm bowling to myself") injured after receiving a knock to his bowling finger during a training drill.

In a shocking decision 20-year old New South Wales leg-spinner Steve Smith was yesterday named standby for Hauritz and Victorian paceman Clint McKay (26), replacement for Siddle. McKay, who has played just two one-day internationals, will become the 412th Australian to wear the baggy green Test cap.

However, Gayle says that even if his team draws the Perth Test, his team should be handed a trophy.u00a0

Australia are1-0 up in their bid for the Frank Worrell trophy after their comprehensive inning and 65-run win at Brisbane.

"Getting a one-all result, that would be great, it would be fantastic," Gayle said yesterday.

"Australia will still hold the trophy, but if it do (sic) happen, they should give us a trophy. I think we we'll actually deserve it if we win this Test match, we're looking forward to it and if that do happen they should hand it to us.

"It's cricket, anything can happen on any given day, it doesn't matter what sort of team you have out there, they can still crumble," Gayle said.

"Once you get it right, definitely we can put a bit of pressure on them and we'll see what happens when the pressure is out there."

The West Indies appeared typically stress-free despite their injury woes. On Monday night Gayle and some of his team-mates, notably Sulieman Benn and Dwayne Bravo, performed an impromptu reggae jam on stage at a cocktail party, prompting Australian pace bowler Doug Bollinger to offer Gayle a $5 bill for the performance.

Spin bowler Benn is a noted musician. After the performance Gayle said: "It's not the first time I've done this, I've done it on many occasions, that is my second talent. I felt like showing it off last night."

Some members of the team reportedly disagreed with his use of the word "talent".

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