WI can move forward without Gayle – Wallace

Former West Indies opening batsman Philo Wallace says the West Indies can do without the services of Chris Gayle after seeing the regional side coast to victory in their series against Sri Lanka yesterday.

The opening batsman Gayle has not played a T20 match for the West Indies since March 8, 2019, versus England, but since then, the return of Lendl Simmons, the consistency of Evin Lewis and the emergence of Brandon King has worked for the Windies.

“Gayle is 40 years old now, he doesn’t move around as swiftly as he used to and I think there is enough depth now in the team that they can move forward without a Chris Gayle,” said Wallace who was speaking on a local radio show, the Calvin Alkins Delivery of the Day with Barry Wilkinson, in Barbados.

Opening spots sealed

“The point is that the opening spots are sealed and the young men are performing, so he (Gayle) finds himself pretty hard to get into the side, to be honest,” Wallace said.

Gayle was scheduled to take part in Nepal’s Everest T20 league but the competition was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The hard-hitting left-hander is still one of the most successful batsmen in T20 cricket with two centuries at an average of 32.54 and a strike rate of 142.84 for the West Indies.

Only current captain Kieron Pollard has played more matches than the ‘Universe Boss’ in franchise cricket.

The West Indies still have a steady diet of T20s remaining this year with matches against New Zealand, South Africa and Australia plus the Caribbean Premier League season to come before the World Cup, but Wallace believes that a decision should be made now.

“I respect Chris’ record but if you are preparing as a defending champion to win a World Cup, then you should be part of the process leading up to the production. Chris hasn’t played for whatever reason, so look, I would stick with this team, add (Sunil) Narine and the Windies look really strong.”