Windies Beat Scotland
Gayle is a big hitter and a bigger optimist. He wants to give the West Indian crowds in England something to cheer about.
His teammates refer to him affectionately as “C.G” but West Indies captain Christopher Gayle, if anything, is an incurable optimist.
He told former England captain Michael Atherton, now a television journalist for Sky Sports: “I think we will win the T20 World Cup. I’ll give back the crowd something to cheer about.”
Gayle admitted that the Test and One Day series against England, which ended on Tuesday in defeat in a One Day International (ODI) at Edgbaston, was disappointing.
“I am disappointed”, he said.
The first match will be against Australia next week but no big thing, the boys were preparing for it and a couple more players were joining the squad.
Gayle might have been basing his optimism on the winners-take-all US$20 million match against England arranged by disgraced financier Allen Stanford in Antigua six months ago which the West Indies won handsomely.
However, the team’s recent form does not suggest that they can beat any of the major cricketing nations.
Trinidadian Kieron Pollard, who has, so far, failed to realize his potential, was advised by a Jamaican television panel to have his batting average greater than his age of 21.
On Thursday, the West Indies might have felt a bit better as they whipped lowly Scotland in a warm-up match scoring 145 for 6 with Dwayne Bravo top-scoring with 51 while Scotland scored 129 for 9.