WEST INDIES’ cricket coach Ottis Gibson has hit back at outspoken former captain Chris Gayle, saying the player knows what the score is with him.
“Chris knows my stance, so if he chooses to come out and make statements, then that’s up to him,” Gibson said at a media conference Friday, hours after Gayle issued an emotional statement in which he said the coach did not support his reappointment.
Gayle accused Gibson of seeking to devalue his leadership and questioned his commitment to West Indies’ cricket.
But Gibson responded that it appeared Gayle was not prepared to journey along the same routehe was charting for the regional team.
“The (West Indies Cricket) Board knows my feelings on the whole thing and we are trying to build a team, a team that is competitive and (can) start to win.
“We have not been doing that for a while and everybody has a part to play in this, and Chris Gayle has a part to play in it, if he chooses,” Gibson said.
“It seems from a lot of the stuff he is saying he doesn’t feel he can be a part of it. He knows what the score is and he is choosing his own path completely. And that’s up to him completely,” Gibson noted.
Gibson acknowledged the Gayle issue has been going on for a while and he was trying his best not to get distracted by it because there were broader issues with which he has to deal in West Indies cricket.
“Individuals have to deal with stuff in their own way. When we come together as a team, we are very focussed on the job at hand, but it’s hard to stop a guy from going on the Internet and being friendly with Chris. But we do not sit and have team meetings about Chris Gayle.
“We discuss cricket and India and how we’re going to get (Rahul) Dravid out, and (V.V.S.) Laxman out, and how we are going to stop Ishant Sharma from getting six wickets again in the second innings, and how we are going to go about winning the Test match,” Gibson said.
Gibson pointed out that after giving up his position as bowling coach with the England team and accepting the job as West Indies’ coach, he realised that some things had to be changed or improved to produce a successful regional outfit.
“I love my job, and when I was working for England, and even before I was working for England, when I became a coach, one of the things I wanted to do was to coach the West Indies team.
“The West Indies is my hometown. It’s where I grew up. It’s my team. It’s the team I represented, and I wanted to coach that team. I have gotten the opportunity now. I look back at a lot of things, and you realise that things needed to change or improve if we were going to be a successful team.”
Gibson said he informed players his goal was building a winning team.
“In building a team, you have to look at all the ingredients and the end product may not include all of them because we need direction. People have to understand and appreciate the direction in which the team is going to be successful.
“If everybody does what they want, then there is no team. You can see the energy on the field, and the team is taking shape. Chris is not in the team and obviously, by what he is saying, he does not agree with the direction in which we are going, but yet the team is improving,” Gibson said.
