Windies skipper Gayle is unfazed

His batsmen have been termed "Calypso Kids" and "Collapso Kings" following his team's humiliating inning and 65-run massacre by the Australians in less than three days in the Gabba Test last week.

Windies skipper Gayle is unfazed

His batsmen have been termed "Calypso Kids" and "Collapso Kings" following his team's humiliating inning and 65-run massacre by the Australians in less than three days in the Gabba Test last week.

He, himself, has been called a "mercenary" and a "traitor to the cause of Test cricket".

But, even as he admits his team's pathetic display was "not only disappointing, but downright embarrassing", West Indies captain Chris Gayle remains unfazed.

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle

In his syndicated column this morning, Gayle writes: "Times may be tough, but I am determined to be the strong captain the West Indies team needs right now.

"When you have a bad loss like this, it's to be expected a lot of people are going to speculate over my captaincy. Some say I'm not the right person for the job.

"I've got a message for those people I'm not going anywhere," said Gayle, who has been savaged in official quarters the world over for his assertion that he prefers Twenty20 and one-day cricket to the Test version and for suggesting that the days of Test cricket are numbered.

"I have been chosen as captain and it's a job I will continue to do the job to the best of my ability."

"My heart is in it and I feel really strongly I am the right man to lead the West Indies through this challenge," said the man who led his team's senior players in an industrial dispute with the West Indies board.

"A lot has been happening over the last eight months, but I am not into negativity. Negative energy is the last thing we need right now because we are just starting to try to regroup as a team."

To be fair, the West Indies went into the first Test grossly underdone because of lack of match practice (as a result of the dispute) and lack of conditioning in Australian conditions, having played just one warm-up match before the Test.

Even as Australian cricket fans, who love nothing more than a bruising contest on their soil, have resigned themselves to a boring one-sided whitewash in this and the next series against Pakistan, the Windies cup of woe has overflowed after the revelation that pace bowler Jerome Taylor will return home because of a back injury.

Taylor has taken 82 wickets in 29 Tests and his absence will further weaken the tourist's depleted attack against a home side determined to seek redemption after last summer's Ashes setback in England.

West Indies manager and fast bowling great Joel Garner told the media yesterday the selectors will make a 'determination' about a replacement, although Taylor is undergoing further tests in Brisbane.

With dependable batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan expected to return to the team for Friday's Test at Adelaide after missing the first Test, Garner said: "We have not had a lot of cricket which is what we need.

"You have got a team (Australia) that has been playing consistently for the last six, seven, eight months. We have four or five youngsters who have just played a handful of first-class games so... it is a tall order. The reason we lost the Test match is we didn't bat properly."

Only two batsmen, Adrian Barath and Dinesh Ramdin u2013 both of Indian extraction u2013 put up much of a fight, apart from Gayle's sizzling start in the first inning which ended with the captain having egg on his face because of his asinine decision to challenge on field umpire Asad Rauf's decision.

With the exception of a brilliant century on debut by 19-year old opening batsman Barath and a fighting half century by Ramdin, the rest of the visitors' batsmen capitulated tamely.

Barath, who is just 161 cm tall, made a good impression when he played in the Champions League in India. He is a protu00e9gu00e9 of Brian Lara who has mentored him since the age of 11.

The West Indian legend is known to have provided the Trinidadian with financial help and equipment as well as advice and encouragement, irrespective of where in the world the legend is.
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Meanwhile, former Australian captain Mark Taylor has urged the West Indian batsmen to watch videos of former greats such as Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes and Richie Richardson in action.

"Just for a moment they should stop looking at the odd six they hit over mid-off or cover and have a bit more of a look at their techniques," Taylor, a current member of Cricket Australia said.

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