West Indian?fans will get a chance to see Chris Gayle in action this month.
But it still won’t be in maroon. Fans will have to sit in front of their television sets again to see Gayle showcase his skills in the shortest version of the game.
The enigmatic Jamaican opener is yet to apologise to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) as requested last month, but has applied for and been granted a No Objection Certificate to take his talents to Africa.
Gayle has been offered a contract to play for the Mashonaland Eagles in Zimbabwe during the Stanbic Bank T20 series later this month.
That means Gayle will certainly not be in the West Indies team when they face India later this month as well, in a One-Day series. The tournament in Zimbabwe runs from November 23 to December 4, and the One-Day series is from November 30 to December 12.
The WICB is still awaiting an apology from Gayle regarding a number of statements he made regarding current West Indies coach Ottis Gibson, and his criticism of a number of senior players in the squad.
“The board has actually shifted its position three times to accommodate an apology from Mr Gayle,” a WICB source said yesterday. “The board first requested a public apology, then a private apology, and finally asked Mr Gayle to simply withdraw his comments.
Mr Gayle has not budged from his original stance,” the WICB official added, on condition of anonymity.
The WEEKEND NATION has learnt that since their original apology request early last month, the WICB have again offered an olive branch by writing Gayle, and the swashbuckling opener has responded by asking the board exactly what he needed to apologise for, or what statements he made needed to be retracted, as he intimated in an earlier media interview two weeks ago.
Still, no apology has been forthcoming, and Gayle, who has said he remains committed to West Indies cricket and previously said he’s tired of the back and forth with the board, was not included in the West Indies team that faced India and lost the first Test of a three-match series earlier this week.
Now, with an important One-Day series looming later this month, Gayle will instead be playing Twenty20 cricket away from the Caribbean again.
