Twenty three-year-old Jamaican left-hander Christopher Gayle signaled his return to test cricket with a top class 71 on Saturday at the Kensington Oval on the third day of the third test.
Playing in his 29th test after being overlooked for the first two in the series, Gayle hammered 12 fours in his 10th test fifty and shared in an attractive 139-run opening stand with Devon Smith before the West Indies suffered an all too familiar collapse.
The regional selectors ignored Gayle after he teamed up with Carl Hooper to play in the Double Wicket competition in St. Lucia and missed the regional first-class final between Jamaica and Barbados. He told reporters he was pleased to be back in the side and that all he wanted to do was to play cricket and do well for the West Indies.
"I am not here to prove anything to anybody, just to play cricket and do well for the West Indies," Gayle said when asked if he wanted to prove that he should have been in the side from the start of the series.
Gayle stated that he was disappointed in the manner in which he was dropped but added that he was glad to be back in the team and making a contribution. He also mentioned that no one has said anything to him as to why he was dropped but stressed that what was important to him was doing well for the West Indies
The tall opening batsman fell 29 short of his third test hundred and said he felt it was a good innings although he was disappointed in not reaching a century.
"I am sorry I did not get the hundred but this was a very difficult pitch to bat on and shot selection had to be good. I think the pitch has gotten worse quickly and it now has a lot a cracks in it" Gayle informed.
Gayle whose highest test score is 204 against New Zealand claims that he enjoys batting with Smith and feels the young man has a bright career ahead of him.
"This is not the first big stand we have shared. I batted with him a lot on the 'A' team tour to England and we got a few good starts. He is a good stroker of the ball and we both are positive batsmen," Gayle disclosed.
Although he feels the pitch is difficult to bat on Gayle feels that the West Indies can still save this test match.
"I have batted on worse pitches than this one and I feel if you are a good batsman you have got to be prepared to bat on any surface. We will now have to bat to save the match and not worry too much about the pitch," Gayle pointed out.
The free scoring left hander who averages 35.28 in test cricket with just over 1,600 runs, explained that after he was dropped from the team he set himself some targets and trained hard.
"Basically against Australia I looked at how the Australian bowled to left handers and worked hard on my game and how they would bowl to me," the attacking opener stated.
While most of the West Indies batsmen fell to loose shots Gayle was bowled with an unplayable ball from Jason Gillespie which pitched middle and leg and hit the off bail.
"Gillespie is a very good bowler and the ball that got me was a beauty," said Gayle who made 56 in the West Indies second innings.