Gayle to ‘explore opportunities’ but won’t quit

Chris Gayle has said he “will explore the opportunities available” to him elsewhere, since he can no longer wait on the WICB to resolve their issues with him, but is available for selection for West Indies and Jamaica, and has ruled out retirement. In a long and emotional public statement, Gayle said communication with officials of the West Indies and Jamaica cricket boards had broken down, and he traced the evolution of the long-running and bitter dispute back to 2009, when Ernest Hilaire, now CEO of the WICB, cast doubts on his ability to captain the team.

Gayle also referred to the recent efforts at rapprochement with Hilaire, and said that Hilaire would not be able to meet him till August, ruling himself out of the West Indies’ current home series against India.

“I have now reached the stage where I have to say that enough is enough,” Gayle wrote. “I understand that the WICB and the Jamaica Board met and my matter was discussed, but nobody has told me anything, and I can only assume, without any positive feedback, there has been no resolution.

“There is a disciplinary process in West Indies cricket. Yet the board is allowed to be the complainant as well as policeman, judge, jury, and executioner in my case. When I tried to respond to the accusations made against me, I am deemed to be out of place and trying to destroy West Indies cricket.

“I am now coming close to the end of my shelf life as a cricketer … and must concentrate on providing for my family now and in the future. On this basis, and not hearing from the West Indies Cricket Board with any clear pathway forward, I have come to the bitter realisation that I am not wanted by the board, and all that has gone before in terms of reconciliation is a sham and a mockery. I see it as a scam to fool the people of the West Indies and the world into believing that (the WICB) were serious about my returning to West Indies cricket.

“My eyes are open, my heart is clean, my conscience is clear, and the voice of reason is loud in my ears, telling me that I should close this chapter in my life. I am not going to be the WICB’s whipping boy. We, as West Indies players, are admired throughout the world for our honesty and sportsmanship.

Yet the custodians of West Indies cricket, the people who are responsible for the development of our heritage sport, have not dealt with us honestly.

“It is against this background that I have now decided not to wait on the WICB any longer, (not) while I still have the time and the skills to explore the opportunities available to me elsewhere. I do it reluctantly, but have no choice. I have people to take care of and cannot sit for months waiting on WICB CEO Ernest Hilaire and the board.

“Despite all that has happened, I am still hopeful that good sense will prevail and I would once again represent my country and my region in the near future. I wish to make it abundantly clear that I have not yet retired from any form of the game, and remain available for selection for both Jamaica and West Indies.

However, this is entirely out of my hands.” Gayle suggested his exclusion from the series against India was part of a long- term plan to remove him from the team. The problem, Gayle said, goes back to 2009, since when he had “been put in a no- win situation”.

Soon after Hilaire took office that October, Gayle said, the Board questioned the selectors’ recommendation that he should captain the team to tour Australia.

While eight members voted for him, five voted against.

“Clive Lloyd, who had praised me highly before, was one of them [who voted against]. He never said anything to me about why he was no longer on my side.

Joel Garner, who was the manager of the West Indies team and who worked with me closely on the Stanford game which we won, was another. Conde Riley from Barbados, too. Most surprising is the man who said publicly that he always supported me as captain. Professor Hilary Beckles voted against me, so when he says that he pushed for me to be captain, you have to decide whether to believe Beckles or the minutes of the meeting. Gregory Shillingford of the Leeward Islands voted against me.” (cricinfo)