Sports
Is this the last time we see Chris Gayle for West Indies?
Is this the last time we will see Chris Gayle in action in international cricket? As Gayle trudged off at the Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi, a nine-ball 15 to his name, one ball after hitting his 1045th six in T20 cricket, it certainly felt that way. He did say after the match that he hoped to get a farewell game at home in Jamaica, but that’s left to be seen.*
Gayle dragged Pat Cummins on to his stumps to end a promising opening stand in what was defending champions West Indies’ last game at the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup. Their loss to Sri Lanka on November 4 had already ended their slim hopes of progressing to the semi-finals. He walked off, expressionless at first and waving his bat to the crowd, before breaking out into an ear-to-ear grin, and straight into hugs with Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo after crossing the boundary. He then gave away his gloves to fans in the stands.
When West Indies came out to defend, Gayle’s mood and the atmosphere pointed to this being a farewell not least when he rolled his arm over with Australia on the brink of victory. That was a reminder of how Gayle sought to play. Hat on, sunglasses on, he looked like a social cricketer who couldn’t wait to get to the pub, but his bowling still had all the guile and competitiveness.
He sought to cramp David Warner, who tried the switch hit. As Warner remonstrated for a wide call, Gayle joked to him about not knowing the rules. He then nearly had Warner stumped down the leg side although Nicholas Pooran failed to collect the ball. Gayle walked all the way up to Warner and touched his pocket, perhaps to suggest the ball might have flicked the pocket on the way to cause the error. With the last ball, he had Mitchell Marsh caught at mid-off and ran towards the departing batter and gave him a bear hug from the back. He walked off with a smile. Gayle came back to finish off the formalities of the game.
Gayle, who turned 42 in September, has been part of a team in this tournament which has felt very much at the end of an era – having won the 2012 and 2016 editions of the tournament with a core of the side still playing in this tournament. Although the captain Kieron Pollard has said he will continue, Bravo has announced his retirement.
Watching on from the commentary box, Ian Bishop and later Daren Sammy – the latter a recent team-mate and captain of Gayle – paid rich tribute to, arguably, the greatest T20 cricketer ever. “Everything points to this being the last time we will see Gayle in West Indies’ colours,” Bishop said on air. Alongside Bravo, Gayle also walked through a guard of honour given by the Australian team after the game.
Although his returns have dwindled in recent years, Gayle’s on-field legacy is unlikely to be dimmed. He has hit nearly three times as many hundreds in the format as the next best (22 to eight), has hit nearly 300 more sixes than anyone else and, with over 14000 runs, has 3000 more than anyone in the format.
And although he never won an IPL title, the league in which he first became the superstar he is now, he has been part of seven title-winning sides across the globe: twice with West Indies, three times in the CPL, once in the Bangladesh Premier League and an Afghanistan Premier League title as well.
The obvious caveat to this is that he has yet to make an official announcement that this is the end, either for West Indies, or from the game altogether. His impending retirement – or not – has been an ongoing narrative over the last couple of years. Two years ago, having hit 72 off 41 balls against India in an ODI, he walked off to congratulations and tributes.
He has since taken a break from the game but then returned.
Post-game both Bravo and Pollard laughed when the question of Gayle’s retirement was asked. “He said halfway,” Bravo responded. “He halfway retires. He still has some cricket left. I’m not sure what he’s decided yet, but yeah.”
Not that this stopped David Warner from giving a conventional tribute.
“I think Chris has changed the game for all opening batsmen around the world in all three formats. One, he’s got a lot of size on his side, and a lot of power on his side, so he’s able to pick up three-pound bats, which we can’t, but the way that he came out, from his career, from the get-go, he just put fear in the bowler’s minds and he was able to intimidate, and he’s had a great career, I respect that immensely, and I’m just proud to watch him and be a part of a team as well, I managed to play with him which was great. Awesome competitor and a great entertainer.” (ESPN)
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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