LANKY LEFT-ARM West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn was sent off the field by his captain Chris Gayle yesterday, for refusing to bowl as instructed during South Africa’s successful run-chase that saw West Indies losing the match by seven wickets.Benn, who has been dogged by controversy during his cricketing career, was only allowed to deliver four of his allotted ten overs during the high-scoring fourth Digicel One-Day International at Windsor Park.“I actually asked him to leave the field,” Gayle stated in the post-match Press conference.“As a captain, it was a situation where you ask a particular bowler to do it and he said he [had] never done certain things before,” Gayle explained.“That’s why you have practice sessions to practise. I asked him to simply bowl over the wicket. I don’t see why it should be a problem. He wasn’t up for it, and if you’re not up for it, why give that particular bowler the ball? It was my call to actually ask him to leave and tell him that he is not needed anymore,” added Gayle.While not mentioning whether Benn would face disciplinary action, Gayle said: “We will have discussion about it.”West Indies’ head coach Ottis Gibson was not present for yesterday’s match, having returned to Barbados to attend the funeral service of his grandmother.Assistant coach David Williams supervised the team while chairman of the selectors Clyde Butts assisted during the pre-game morning warm-up session.Gayle also noted that Benn would still travel with the team to Trinidad for the fifth and final One-Day International on Thursday.The West Indies team media relations officer Philip Spooner said the issue was an internal one and would be dealt with by the team management unit when they moved to Port-of-Spain.South Africa lead the five-match One-Day series 4-0.
