GAYLE SHOULD PUT FANS OUT OF THEIR MISERY

So once again a potential resolution to the year-long impasse between Chris Gayle and the West Indies Cricket Board has been stalled. This latest effort led by Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who convened a meeting on the weekend between Gayle, the West Indies Cricket Board and members of CARICOM has been held up while Gayle consults with his advisors on what his next move should be.

Gayle, who has been out of international cricket for more than a year since his outburst of KLAS radio during which he called hauled the WICB, its CEO Dr. Ernest Hilaire and team coach Otis Gibson over the coals, has said that he wants to continue to represent the West Indies, but it seems that each time he has been given an opportunity to do so he balks.

Now here’s the thing; despite what many of us believe, Gayle was wrong to take his frustrations with the board public the way he did. Yes, it was Otis Gibson who started the mess when he called out the senior players on the West Indies cricket team following their dismal showing during the Cricket World Cup, but that didn’t make Gayle’s rant to Orville Higgins right. So, bottom line is that Gayle needed to have apologized. However, because of how the WICB handled or mishandled the matter where egos came into play, they ended up making Gayle a hero.

Now, thanks to the cricket-loving heads of CARICOM, another opportunity has been put on the table yet still Gayle continues to hold back. According to Dr. Gonsalves, the document he helped prepare is fair as it takes into consideration that Gayle needs to earn money and that during his time out in the cold, he made use of his considerable skills to attract the interest of the growing number of T20 leagues around the world. Those leagues have rewarded Gayle handsomely for his skills and he is obligated to honour those commitments.

If he pulls out now, he hurts his reputation and his ability to command as much money as he does now. The reality is these leagues not only pay top dollar for Gayle’s skills, they play for his availability as well. Currently, the money he gets paid ensures that he is available to the teams that contract him and to no one else, it’s part of the appeal. Under any other circumstance he can walk away and go back to playing for the West Indies for relative peanuts.

According to news reports, even if Gayle does sign on the dotted line of this agreement that has already been signed by the WICB and CARICOM, he wont be available to the West Indies until September this year when the Champions Trophy is being played. That means Gayle would miss the current Australian tour and the tour by New Zealand that comes up in the summer. It would seem to me that there is something in that agreement that Gayle feels would prevent him from taking advantage of their opportunities he is being afforded in the different T20 leagues and that is why he is holding back.

To me there is a rather simple solution to the problem. Gayle has four or five good years left as a force in world cricket. He has said publicly that he prefers the shortest form of the game over the more traditional Test format so the best solution would be for him to retire from international cricket and pursue his dream of plying his audacious skills all over the world. It makes good economical sense. Playing for the West Indies – if he signs a central contract – Gayle can make more money than the average Caribbean professional makes, but if he becomes mercenary and sells his skills to the IPL, Big Bash, Bangladesh Premier League and the South African T20 league, Gayle can make much, much more. He also stands to earn from any new league that props up where ever and when ever. And if he employs a proper manager he could make even more endorsing everything from bats to sandwiches. At the end of the day he would retire significantly wealthier than he would have playing for the West Indies.

However, he keeps saying he wants to play for the West Indies, only on his terms. Put the fans out of their misery Chris. If you let them know what you want to do then I am sure they will support your move. The constant wavering makes them unsure, kind of like an insecure girl in an awkward relationship where she doesn’t know which day she is going to wake up and hear that its all over.