The Story
The clash of egos between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the bunch of senior cricketers has hurt Windies cricket so bad that it now stands on the verge of losing a direct qualification to the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Sri Lanka’s dismal show on the other side of the world has eased up the scenario for them a bit, but avoiding the situation to play the qualifiers set to take place in March featuring Ireland, Afghanistan and hosts Zimbabwe still hovers over them. Only two qualifiers will join the top eight in the rankings at the end of this month at the 2019 finals in England.
To avoid entering such unpredictable situation, Windies now need to beat Ireland and then win at least four matches out of the five against England. Only after producing these performances West Indies move to the 8th position in the rankings and qualify for the next World Cup.
Fortunately, the severity of the problem is being addressed, and the WICB is initiating appropriate steps.
The Return of Gayle
WICB has welcomed back Chris Gayle, Jerome Taylor and Marlon Samuels – two of the most senior names in the Windies cricket – back to the ODI squad. Both the cricketers will make their appearance against Ireland on Wednesday. Gayle, who last played an ODI during the 2015 World Cup, arrived with the 15-man squad in Northern Ireland on Monday.
These stars were left cold by the national selectors after they were unable to be available for the domestic tournament which was deemed mandatory for selection in the limited-overs internationals or Test teams. Samuels last played in October 2016 but was dropped for the tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe the following month.
Gayle recently made an international appearance in the one-off T20 game against India in July while Taylor’s last ODI appearance was in July 2016.
“The panel welcomes back Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, who will both add value to our batting and help with the nurturing of the young batsmen in the team,” said the chairman of selectors Courtney Browne.
Gayle was confident of making an impact and also revealed his desire to play in the 2019 World Cup.
“The fans were happy to see me back on the field representing West Indies,” said Gayle.
“Hopefully, things can get better. Hopefully, I can play a few more games. I definitely want to play the 2019 World Cup. Things are beginning to open up a little more now between players and the board. It’s looking good, and we’ve to try and build from this to get the best players out on the field.”