Sussex pulled off a confident win at the Ageas Bowl to extend their unbeaten record at the top of South Group

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jul-2018
ScorecardLuke Wright scored his second fifty in a week to keep up Sussex’s 100 per cent win record in the Vitality Blast as they thrashed Hampshire by eight wickets.Opener Wright never looked in any trouble, and refused to give his opponents a sniff, as he struck 68 off 53 balls as he put on 96 with Laurie Evans, who also scored a brilliant half century.Having already beaten Essex and Glamorgan in the opening two rounds, Sussex looked confident chasing 158.Phil Salt and Wright attacked the task with a mixture of quick running and timely boundaries.

Talking T20 Podcast

This week Dan Norcross is joined by David Hopps to debate world records feats in the Vitality Blast from Ed Pollock, Joe Denly and (nearly) Dan Christian and still finds time to discuss carrots with Isabelle Westbury.
Listen on ESPN radio
Subscribe on iTunes

Salt was deceived by a brilliantly disguised slower ball from Gareth Berg but the let up didn’t come for the home bowlers, with 53 scored off the powerplay.Wright, on the back of an 88 against Glamorgan, arrowed a pair of impeccable cover drives off Kyle Abbott, although was involved in a controversial moment when Mujeeb Ur Raham thought he had bowled him but after a long delay was given a reprieve.The former England international reached his 35th format fifty off 40-balls, before he found Chris Wood on the long-on boundary.Evans, who collected a classy 55 not out, guided Sussex home with 10 balls to spare to leave Hampshire winless from their opening two Vitality Blast fixtures.Earlier, Hampshire were stuck in by Sussex skipper Wright on a wicket that never really came onto the batsmen.James Vince promoted himself back up to open, alongside Colin Munro, and took the attack to the Sussex bowlers – drilling Jofra Archer and David Wiese for three clean fours in each of their opening two overs.The Hampshire captain played one shot too many in his 16-ball 30, when his aggressive drive swirled high to cover.Munro attempted to keep the high run-rate going as he slapped a straight drive for six, to take the hosts to 59 for one at the end of the powerplay.But the runs and boundaries dried up, with 15 balls without the ball reaching the ropes, as Sam Northeast joined Munro.The former Kent batsman grew in confidence by taking Wiese for three successive fours but like Vince overhit one extra ball – as he found Archer at long off off Danny Briggs’ bowling.Rilee Rossouw smashed a six down the ground but was caught on the midwicket boundary attempting a slog sweep next ball.Briggs then claimed his third scalp, Munro caught at long off for a scrappy 30, as he ended with figures of three for 29, spoiled somewhat by a six and four from his final over.The backend of the Hampshire innings proved a battle against an experienced and wily Sussex attack with only 38 coming from the last five overs – despite Tom Alsop’s battling unbeaten 35.The main menace was Archer, who ended with figures of three for 26, with a yorker bowling Berg and a square leg catch getting rid of Lewis McManus.

Aaron Finch missed the match and will be absent for the next two having returned to Australia due to a family bereavement

ECB Reporters Network09-Aug-2018
ScorecardBad weather, and ultimately a threat of lightning in late evening, meant that both Surrey and Sussex had to be content with a No Result point in the Vitality Blast south group game at the Kia Oval.Sussex did manage to score an impressive 159 for 2 from 13 overs, in a game originally shortened to 15 overs per side following afternoon rain. But then more rain arrived just before 9pm, plus the warning of electrical activity in the south London area, and the match was abandoned.Luke Wright had hit a 30-ball 55, and Sussex’s score was further boosted by Laurie Evans’ 48 off 24 balls with four sixes and two fours, plus a quickfire 20 from 11 balls by Delray Rawlins, also including two sixes.Wright and Phil Salt put on a rapid 71 in 5.2 overs for Sussex’s first wicket after they had been put in, and Salt’s departure for 33 off 14 balls, caught and bowled by Rikki Clarke from a skier, was perhaps an unlucky dismissal.Salt, having hit the final ball of Jade Dernbach’s opening over for six and also plundered four fours, hoisted Clarke’s first ball – a waist-high full toss at the start of the sixth over – over long leg for another six. But it was not called a no ball, when it might easily have been, and Salt fell to the very next ball. If Clarke had been no-balled for an unfair delivery, then Salt would have had a free hit.Wright fell to the second ball of the 10th over, bowled swinging at Clarke after a typically free-wheeling innings that featured eight fours and a six driven against Tom Curran over long off.The 11th over, bowled by Mat Pillans, cost 19 as a high full toss did give Evans the chance of a free hit – which he duly deposited high over mid wicket for six – while a length ball was swung high over long on for another maximum by left-hander Rawlins.Evans, who had warmed up by pulling Gareth Batty’s off spin for six, then tucked into Curran as he twice drove the seamer for successive sixes into the crowd, first over long off and then high over long on’s head. Curran’s two overs were taken for 37 runs.A rain shower cut short Sussex’s innings two overs early, but Evans and Rawlins had already added an unbeaten 54 in a mere 3.4 overs to put the visitors into a powerful position.Earlier the day-long rain, which had washed out the opening day of England’s second Test against India across the Thames at Lord’s, finally relented around 6pm – which allowed the Oval groundstaff to mop up and for the umpires, Paul Pollard and Tim Robinson, to inspect at 7pm and sanction a start at 7.45pm.Surrey were missing explosive opener Aaron Finch, who has had to return home to Australia following a family bereavement. The world’s No 1 ranked T20 batsman will also miss Surrey’s next two South Group games, the away fixtures at Somerset at Taunton tomorrow and against Gloucestershire at Bristol on Sunday, but is expected to return in time for Surrey’s last two matches – at home to Hampshire next Wednesday (August 15) and away against Glamorgan at Cardiff two evenings later.

Batsman rescues floundering and hits 17 off the final over as St Kitts & Nevis Patriots clinch last-over thriller

The Report by Peter Della Penna05-Sep-2018Randy Brooks – CPL T20 / Getty

A sparkling half-century by Fabian Allen, in his maiden CPL innings, salvaged a floundering St Kitts and Nevis Patriots chase and took them to victory by two wickets over Barbados Tridents at Warner Park on Tuesday night. Allen made an unbeaten 64 off 34 balls to rescue the Patriots from 92 for 6, including 17 runs off the final over, to pull his team through with two balls to spare.The win puts Patriots temporarily in first place, though their regular season is now finished. Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors are one point behind, but both have three league fixtures remaining, two of which are against each other.Shamsi leaves his imprintPatriots’ overseas batsman Tom Cooper had a miserable time at CPL 2018. His six innings yielded just 45, and the team management ran out of patience. When he had to head home for the start of Australia’s domestic season, the franchise sought a replacement and picked South Africa left-arm wristspinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who was actually filling the void left by Nepal legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane. In his first outing, Shamsi, who is coming off back spasms, suffered during the tour of India with the South Africa A team, left his imprint.Coming on at the end of the Powerplay, Shamsi struck with just his second ball, trapping Dwayne Smith lbw to end a 45-run opening stand. Smith’s opening partner Sunny Sohal fell leg before as well in the next over to Mahmudullah’s offspin, pinned on the back foot after shuffling across his crease too far to flick. A poor call for a run to backward point resulted Hashim Amla’s run out to make it 66 for 3 at the halfway mark. When Shai Hope was out slogging to mid-off, Shamsi, who did him in with flight, reinforced the advantage.Shamsi didn’t concede a single boundary in his spell of 4-0-16-2. He could have had a third wicket when he beat Roston Chase sweeping, just as he had Smith earlier in the night. Umpire Nigel Duguid denied a strong lbw shout, though the ball had pitched in line with leg stump and would have gone on to hit it. On 5 then, Chase proceeded to make the most of the let-off, carving an unbeaten 38 off 28, including partnerships of 48 with Nicholas Pooran, and an unbroken 53 with Jason Holder to take the Tridents to a competitive total.Mo wickets at the topMohammad Irfan continued to cement his status as the standout bowler of the last two weeks of CPL 2018 with another brilliant opening spell. The tall fast bowler from Pakistan struck thrice in the Powerplay to rein in a hot Patriots start in pursuit of 168.Evin Lewis was beaten for pace in the fourth, offering a simple catch to midwicket while attempting a pull. Irfan struck again two balls later, when he got one to keep a touch low and bowled Rassie van der Dussen. Chris Gayle fell in near identical circumstances to Lewis, in the final ball of the Powerplay by sending a catch to mid-on that reducing Patriots to 52 for 3. Three more wickets had fallen by the 12th over, and Patriots were in disarray, still 77 runs adrift of the target, before Allen saved the day.Fab finishAllen’s biggest claim to fame in the CPL prior to Tuesday night was a one-handed diving catch at the point boundary in Florida last year, one that earned him the top spot on ESPN Sportscenter’s Top 10 Plays.Allen had not batted in his two other CPL outings previously, but had proven earlier in the summer that he was no slouch, striking an unbeaten 75 for West Indies B against Edmonton Royals in the Global T20 Canada. He rescued the Patriots on this occasion with the bat in stunning fashion. With 49 needed off the last five overs, Allen scored the bulk of the 23 runs Patriots made across the next two overs to bring the equation down to a very manageable 26 off 18.But Ben Cutting’s silly swipe to be bowled by Holder off the second ball of the 18th turned things around. The result was Allen being starved of the strike over the rest of the 18th and 19th, as he didn’t face another ball until the start of the final over. But Holder may have possibly miscalculated his bowling options, leaving 20-year-old debutant Dominic Drakes to bowl the final six.Allen pounced on two full deliveries, driving a pair of straight sixes to start the over, then pulled a flat four just short of the midwicket rope to level the scores, before a scampered leg bye secured victory.

India’s chief selector MSK Prasad had earlier stated that Dhoni would appear for Jharkhand in the quarter-finals, much like Rohit Sharma for Mumbai

Saurabh Somani13-Oct-2018MS Dhoni will not take part in Jharkhand’s knockout matches for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19.Jharkhand will play their quarter-final against Maharashtra at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday, and Dhoni wasn’t present at the first nets the team had, at the adjoining NCA ground, on Saturday. Team members that ESPNcricinfo spoke to on Saturday said they weren’t expecting Dhoni to join the squad.Jharkhand coach Rajiv Kumar said that he had not received any official word about Dhoni joining, but in his opinion, Dhoni wouldn’t have wanted to disturb the team’s combination, especially since he would have been able to play only one match.”He has to go to Hyderabad on October 16 to report for the ODI series,” Kumar said. “Maybe he will come for a day, I don’t know yet what his plan is, but so far, he is not coming. But it may be possible. You know he takes his own decisions. He is saying the boys are doing well, so there is no point coming for just one game and taking somebody’s place.”Jharkhand topped Group C with 32 points from nine matches, to qualify.The semi-finals are scheduled for October 17 and 18, meaning Dhoni would not have been able to take part even if Jharkhand win their match against Maharashtra.It is understood that Dhoni linking up with the Jharkhand team in Chennai was spoken of before he left for the Asia Cup. The Asia Cup concluded on September 28, with India beating Bangladesh in the final. Jharkhand had four league games remaining in Group C after that, with the first one on October 1. They won three of the games, with one abandoned without a ball bowled. Dhoni, however, eventually didn’t join the team.At the press conference after the Indian ODI side had been announced, chief selector MSK Prasad had said that Dhoni would be playing in the Vijay Hazare quarter-final.Dhoni’s decision is rendered more curious given his recent struggles in limited-overs cricket, and questions beginning to be asked about whether he is the right man to be the first-choice wicketkeeper in the 2019 World Cup. In the Asia Cup, he batted four times, scoring 77 runs with an average of 19.25 and a strike rate of 62.09. Overall in 2018, he has batted 10 times in 15 matches, for an average of 28.12 and a strike rate of 67.36. Dhoni’s last first-class match was in the Irani Trophy over a decade ago, while his last List-A game for Jharkhand was in the 2017-18 Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-final against Bengal.However, while Dhoni has decided to stay away, Rohit Sharma will be part of the Mumbai XI that takes on Bihar in the first quarter-final on Sunday. Rohit, who also didn’t join the Mumbai squad during the league stages, has flown down to be part of the first knockout match. A Mumbai team spokesperson confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that if the Indian ODI team had asked players to report by October 16, Rohit would also miss any subsequent knockout matches.

Wilkins, who scored 10,966 first-class runs including 18 centuries, had been in deteriorating health for some time

Liam Brickhill02-Oct-2018Chris Wilkins, the former South African provincial and county opening batsman, has died at the age of 74. Cricket South Africa announced Wilkins’ death “with shock and sadness” on Tuesday morning.An aggressive opening batsman who could also bowl nippy medium pace, Wilkins represented Border, Eastern Province and Natal in a career that spanned nearly 20 years. Wilkins settled in KwaZulu-Natal after his retirement, becoming a farmer in the Harding district. He had been in deteriorating health for some time.During his playing days, Wilkins also had a stint with Derbyshire in the County Championship, and in all scored 10,966 first-class runs, including 18 centuries, and took 142 wickets. He was also an excellent fielder, often keeping wicket when he wasn’t bowling, or standing at slip.It was, however, as a limited-overs cricketer that he made his biggest impact during his time with Eastern Province. His ability to hit the fastest of bowlers over mid-on and mid-off made him a feared competitor.In an interview with The Cricket Monthly in 2017, legendary South African fast bowler Garth Le Roux made special mention of Wilkins’ positively modern approach to batting.”One or two batsmen hit me back over my head for six,” he said. “Viv Richards did it once or twice, but the player who tried it most often was Chris Wilkins. He was particularly good at it. He’d move right back on his stumps and hit straight. This also gave him more time to hook and pull anything a bit short. He was the most annoying batsman to bowl at.”On Twitter, former South Africa spinner Pat Symcox commented: “Sad to hear of the passing of possibly one of South Africa’s most attacking batsmen ever. An opening bowler’s nightmare. Chris Wilkins was a legend.”Wilkins transferred his pinch-hitting skills to first-class cricket, forming a formidable opening partnership for Eastern Province with Simon Bezuidenhout. On one occasion Wilkins scored a century in just over an hour and the pair managed to secure a bonus batting point before the lunch interval. With Currie Cup bonus batting points allocated for surpassing set team totals, this would have meant that the pair must have scored at least 175.”On behalf of the CSA Family I extend our deepest condolences to his family, his friends and his many cricketing colleagues,” CSA Chief Executive Thabang Moroe said.

ESPNcricinfo understands the board is displeased with his recent slew of public comments and has reportedly placed a gag order on him

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Nov-2018It’s only been two weeks since a four-member cricket committee came into being to oversee Pakistan’s cricket affairs, and though they may not have begun their work properly just yet, they’ve been in the news every single day. That is almost entirely down to Mohsin Khan, the head of committee, who’s made a number of public statements that have put the PCB in an awkward position and have raised tensions with other stakeholders.This, ESPNcricinfo understands, has compelled the PCB to start rethinking its decision to appoint him, and it has reportedly placed a gag order on his public comments. The PCB has refused to confirm or deny whether it has asked him to stop talking so publicly.”My statements are wrongly being taken and few people who are against my appointment are doing propaganda,” Mohsin told ESPNcricinfo. “I am here to serve my country and I have had never a discipline issue ever in my entire career. I don’t want to go into details and want to ignore all the negative stuff. I am directly reportable to chairman and he is perfectly fine with me.”Mohsin has riled up coach Mickey Arthur as well as captain Sarfraz Ahmed in his short tenure so far. In comments made just before his appointment, Mohsin called Arthur a “stupid donkey” on a TV channel. Soon after he argued that Sarfraz should be relieved of the Test captaincy.All that came after his very appointment had forced the PCB into an apparent disowning of the Qayyum Report on match-fixing – something it was then keen to insist was not the case. Arthur is understood to want an apology from Mohsin – the pair, according to the terms of the committee, officially meet three times a year – though the PCB chairman Ehsan Mani has said only that all parties should move on from the matter.Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq is also thought to be annoyed by Mohsin’s public comments on selection matters. He has reached out and sought clarity from the board about the committee’s role and suggested that he will not be happy with any intervention in selection affairs. ESPNcricinfo understands that Mohsin’s role and behaviour has been discussed among senior board officials, discussions that have also brought up names of who could replace him should he continue as he has done.All of Mohsin’s comments have been made to TV channels, a few of them to to whom he is contracted as an expert for this home season. It is not clear what officials think of his TV commitments though, as his PCB role is honorary, it is unlikely they can get him to stop them.

The seam-bowling allrounder played 15 ODIs and 22 T20Is for UAE, featuring in the 2014 World T20 and the 2015 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Dec-2018Amjad Javed, the former UAE captain, has retired from international cricket. The 38-year-old seam-bowling allrounder hasn’t found a place in the UAE line-up since December 2017, when he played against Nepal in the ICC WCL Championship.”It is never easy when you have to call it a day,” Amjad told . “You have to decide at what time you need to retire. At the moment, the team is doing better than two years back. I can’t find a place in the team. Nothing motivates me to push myself and fight for that position.”Amjad played 15 ODIs and 22 T20Is for UAE, featuring in the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh and the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. His all-round efforts against Ireland – 42 and 3 for 60 – nearly gained UAE their only victory of the latter tournament, but he chose a performance in the World Cup qualifier the previous year as his personal favourite. In that match, in Christchurch, he smashed 63 off 31 balls and followed it up with 2 for 29 from his 10 overs to consign Kenya to a 13-run defeat.”The main highlight of my career was the 2014 World Cup qualifier [Super Six match] we played against Kenya in New Zealand where I was the man of the match,” Amjad said. “We qualified for the World Cup and achieved ODI status. Everything started rolling after that.”

Players and coaches involved in the game between Karnataka and Saurashtra have indicated that they would welcome the use of technology in domestic cricket, especially in knockout matches.

Saurabh Somani28-Jan-2019Players and coaches involved in the sometimes contentious Ranji Trophy 2018-19 semi-final between Karnataka and Saurashtra have indicated that they would welcome the use of technology to aid umpires in domestic cricket too, especially in knockout matches.”Definitely, if they can use DRS then nothing like it. We will have a fair game,” Yere Goud, the Karnataka coach, said.Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat was also for the idea. “It’s good for the game, whatever technology you can include,” he said. “We’ve seen it at the international level as well. It has really helped teams. I think the BCCI would be the best judge to look at it. I’m sure people there would be looking at it. Obviously, whatever technology you can include can help the game for sure.”Saurashtra won the game by five wickets on the fifth morning, driven by Cheteshwar Pujara’s 131 not out in the fourth innings, but Karnataka were left aggrieved by umpiring errors, believing that Pujara had got a nick when on 34, shortly after lunch on the fourth day. Vinay Kumar, the bowler, and all the Karnataka fielders appealed spontaneously, but umpire Saiyed Khalid remained unmoved. There was a sound as ball passed bat – though on replays, without the aid of HotSpot or UltraEdge, it was difficult to say conclusively that the sound was the result of an edge.
That this followed from the first innings when Pujara had been given a reprieve by the same umpire when he appeared to have gloved Abhimanyu Mithun behind lent an edge to the proceedings, with the crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium also getting involved as Pujara was greeted by chants of “cheater” and booed.ESPNcricinfo understand that Khalid has been rated as among the top 15 umpires in the country based on this season’s domestic performance, which played a part in him being appointed for the semi-finals.Goud didn’t appear to hold issue with Pujara not having walked. “It is left on the individual,” he said. “Because sometimes players get bad decisions, generally they don’t walk. That has been the case in most of the domestic matches we’ve seen.”On the umpiring specific to the match, Unadkat said both sides had received decisions for and against them, but held that nothing could take away from the way Pujara and Sheldon Jackson (100) constructed the chase, with a 214-run stand for the fourth wicket from 23 for 3.”I think anyone can have a tough game. The ball was moving a lot, deviating from the wicket,” Unadkat said. “I’d just say that [the umpiring] has been neutral for sure… [Karnataka] thought it was out, we thought it was not out. There were a couple of other decisions as well, which went against us, and we didn’t really it take in our mind and play the game, which I think they did.”I’m really happy, don’t want to take any credit away from how we played this game, how we fought after being 23 for 3, and playing the way Cheteshwar and Sheldon played.”Karnataka captain Manish Pandey mentioned the umpiring obliquely, telling the host broadcaster after the game, “Unfortunately, a couple of decisions went against us, maybe a couple of performances would have made a difference today.”

The Australia wicketkeeper caught a ball dropped from 80 metres above the MCG

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Feb-2019Alyssa Healy has had a memorable season and now she has added a world record to her list of accolades after claiming the highest catch of a cricket ball.The feat, released to mark tickets going on sale a year out from the Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia, took place at the MCG last month where Healy caught a ball dropped by a drone from 80 meters – beating the previous record of 62 metres set by Englishman Kristan Baumgartner in 2016. Former England captain Nasser Hussain once held the record of 49 metres.”After I didn’t get a hand on the first practice and then the next one went straight through my gloves there was cause for concern,” Healy said. “You don’t get the cue from the ball going up in the air off the bat and it was swinging a lot on the way down because it just gets dropped.””As you can tell in the video, it was pure elation to get it, I didn’t want everyone to come and not get the record so when I’d secured it in the gloves I carried on like a bit of a pork chop, but overjoyed to break the record.”The 2020 T20 World Cup aims to set a new world record for the attendance at a women’s sport event when the final takes place at the MCG on March 8. The current world record is 90,185, set at the FIFA Women’s World Cup final 1999 in California.Tickets for the tournament, including the final in Melbourne, are available from AUD20 for adults and AUD5 for children.

‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle promises to put on a show as ODI career draws to a close

George Dobell17-Feb-20194:56

I will retire after the World Cup – Gayle

However Chris Gayle fares in the ODI series against England – and the World Cup that follows – it is unlikely to be a lack of confidence that holds him back.”You’re looking at a great man,” he said when asked whether he was satisfied with his career. “I’m the greatest player in the world. Of course I’m still the Universe Boss. That will never change. I’ll take that to the grave.”But it is a career that, at ODI level at least, is about to end. The next couple of weeks will see him play his final ODIs in the Caribbean, with retirement to come when West Indies’ World Cup campaign ends. Aged 39 and on the brink of becoming the 14th man – and second from the Caribbean – to score 10,000 ODI runs (he requires 273 more), he has decided to call it a day. It will, presuming he is selected, be his fifth World Cup.”Yes, I’m looking to draw the line after the World Cup,” he said. “Or should I say cut the string? Definitely, in 50-over cricket, the World Cup is the end for me. I’ll let the youngsters have some fun and I can sit back in the party stand and watch them have some fun.”Winning the World Cup would be a fairy-tale finish. The youngsters owe it to me to win. They have to do that for me and try and get me the
trophy. I’ll be looking to put my input in as well.”But Gayle hopes it is not the end of his career. Quite apart from his various T20 commitments in domestic leagues, he has not ruled out appearing in the World T20 in Australia in late 2020 – though he will be 41 by then – and hopes to appear in the ECB’s inaugural season of
The 100 ahead of it.”If I don’t start it, it won’t be a tournament,” he says. “I guess England should invite me over. Then I’ll explode the tournament and say ‘thank you guys; bring in a youngster now.’ I’ll set the trend like I did in all tournaments around the world.”I’m in good condition. The body is feeling good and I’m pleased with that. I’ve lost a bit of weight and I don’t want to get too big. I’m still working on my six pack. I’m trying to keep up with the youngsters in the field who are like cats the way they chase the ball. I still have it in me and I’m still enjoying it.”While Gayle may be remembered as one of the first players to embrace the world of T20 leagues, he is, he says, as enthusiastic about international cricket – and Test cricket, in particular – as ever. Watching West Indies defeat England in the recent Test series was, he
said, “one of the greatest things to happen in 10 years.””It was a great Test series,” he said. “It was fantastic to watch from the sidelines and I think it was one of the greatest things to happen in ten years.”I was the captain for the last home series win against England and to see Jason Holder lifting that trophy ten years later was fantastic, so hopefully as a unit we can get the better of England again in the ODI series.”Yes, I’m positive about the future of Test cricket. It’s always been the ultimate. I know the youngsters coming up are all looking at T20 cricket, but I would urge them to try to play Test cricket. It will give them a chance to challenge themselves. Definitely they should try.”Chris Gayle carts one through the off side•AFP

Even though he declared himself unavailable for West Indies’ tours of India and Bangladesh in recent months, he has now described representing West Indies as “the most important thing.” And, while he is excited by the pace in the West Indies attack, he does warn his own bowlers that he will “destroy them” if they take him on in the nets.”Being back in West Indies colours is the most important thing,” he said. “I’m actually looking to go forward with the Windies. I’ll be bringing some experience to play and sharing that with the youngsters and I hope to enjoy the next couple of months with the West Indies cricket team.”I’m always looking to put on a show. England fans love to see the universe boss exploding and entertaining you guys as much as possible here in the Caribbean and in the UK as well. I’ve set the trend for a long time, so hopefully I can continue in that same vein and play the
game in the true spirit it should be played in.”This series against England might be the last time people get to see the Universe Boss on local soil. The last game I played in Barbados for Jamaica I got a hundred and it would be nice to continue where I left off and entertain the home fans as much as possible. At the end of the day everybody should be happy and enjoy the game.”I don’t know who is opening the bowling for England, but any bowler is going to beware of Chris Gayle. That doesn’t change because he is 39 now, they are going to be saying ‘yes, he’s got some grey hairs in his beard, let’s get him now, this is the perfect time to get the universe boss now he is 39.'”Oshane Thomas bowls a heavy ball. He’s got a bright future; he’s very explosive with the ball. Him and Shannon Gabriel: they’re youngsters, man. But I will destroy them anyway.”So, what does the future hold for him: media work, perhaps?”Definitely not me,” he says. “I’m not a talker. Maybe I’ll make an appearance here and there, but I’m not into the talking thing. I’m not really into the coaching thing either. I’ll figure it out. You’ll see me around.”But not, for much longer, on the pitch. Spectators in the Caribbean, Ireland and England and Wales should catch him while they can.