Brisbane, Australia – Chris Gayle is ready to return to his spot at the top of the batting order for West Indies and he is looking to make an impact in the one-off T20 International against Australia at the Gabba.
The powerful left-hander missed the fourth and fifth One-Dayers with an injury, but is fully recovered to take his place in the side for Wednesday’s match. First ball is 6:35 pm (4:35 am Eastern Caribbean Time/3:35 am Jamaica Time).
"I’m good again..feeling fit and ready. I had a few days’ rest and everything is looking good for the match. I am looking to give it a ‘crack’ and hopefully we can win the last match of the tour and finish on a high," he said after a full net session on Tuesday.
"I was back in the nets and I felt really good. I prepared well and feel strong again to face the Australians. There is a lot to look forward to in this match. Obviously we are the T20 world champions so we have to go out and show that we are the champions. It is going to be a good challenge. They (Australia) are coming off a win in the One-Day Series so we have to try and stop them and look to win this for our fans."
The 33-year-old played a superb lead role during the West Indies’ journey to becoming the world champions when they won the ICC World T20 trophy in Sri Lanka last October. He is one of the most exciting players in the T20 format and enters the match on 985 runs in 31 T20Is with a strike rate of 144 – just 15 short of 1,000 runs in his T20 International career.
"I was disappointed to miss the last few games but these things happen in the game of cricket. This is the perfect opportunity for me to come back and try to do something special for the team. This can be the start of a new beginning for me," Gayle said.
"We have the home series against Zimbabwe coming up around the corner, actually next week, so when we leave here we head home and back into more cricket."
Gayle added: "There is a lot of cricket this year from one format to another. We have the Champions Trophy coming up in England as well, so we need to get a few wins under our belt. It doesn’t matter which format we play, the aim must be to win.
"Coming off the defeat in the One-Day Series, I hope we can turn things around quickly – starting with this T20 – and then move on against Zimbabwe and look to win in all three formats of the game. It will be vital for us that we do that and gain some momentum."
FULL SQUAD
|
Player |
Shirt |
|
Darren Sammy (Captain) |
88 |
|
Dwayne Bravo (Vice Captain) |
47 |
|
Tino Best |
36 |
|
Darren Bravo |
46 |
|
Johnson Charles |
25 |
|
Narsingh Deonarine |
66 |
|
Chris Gayle |
45 |
|
Jason Holder |
98 |
|
Sunil Narine |
74 |
|
Kieron Pollard |
55 |
|
Kieran Powell |
23 |
|
Kemar Roach |
24 |
|
Andre Russell |
12 |
|
Ramnaresh Sarwan |
53 |
|
Devon Thomas |
38 |
Full Schedule of matches
February
Friday 1: 1st ODI – Australia won by 9 wickets at WACA, Perth
Sunday 3: 2nd ODI – Australia won by 54 runs at WACA, Perth
Wednesday 6: 3rd ODI – Australia won by 39 runs at Manuka Oval, Canberra
Friday 8: 4th ODI – Australia won by 5 wickets at SCG, Sydney
Sunday 10: 5th ODI – Australia won by 17 runs at MCG, Melbourne
Wednesday 13: T20 International – The Gabba, Brisbane