Chris Gayle - All class

[cripple]

All class? I dont think so. His comments about Bollinger and Hauritz were disrespectful at best.

That is an excellent point.

Very hard for australian supporters to complain about making outlandish statements before a game/ series. We had McGrath do it for most of his career. As long as you are prepared to back it up or concede you were wrong like gayle has done with bolly, who gives a stuff.

[RoosterMarty]

I am not complaining, to be honest I don't really care about him saying that stuff but to rip into the aussies for lacking class and then saying Gayle is full of it (class that is) is just a bit rich for my liking.

[Gozu]

I already respected his talent as a top shelf batsman but after this series I've got a lot more respect for Gayle now. He took it up to us, gave us a bit of s__t, stared us down and belted us around the park. He led from the front with a team full of duds and his ill mother on his mind. He got under our skins so much (by not cracking) that Watson almost lost his mind after getting him out in what turned out to be a very close series.

I just hope after this he improves his attitude towards the merit of Test cricket and I think over time it might.

[NFC]

I am not complaining, to be honest I don't really care about him saying that stuff but to rip into the aussies for lacking class and then saying Gayle is full of it (class that is) is just a bit rich for my liking.

Exactly right!

[FlyingHigh]

Well, I for one bagged him after the First Test and was good to see how he responded, particularly his commitment with the bat. Also Nash and Bravo. Definitely happy to admit I was wrong, and glad of it too, because the last two were a couple of pretty good tests.

Agree with some of the comments here questioning his captaincy, esp:
Late on 4th day in Adelaide - perhaps his conservatism as captain is a bit like Allan Border's, who early on found a disaster around every corner.
His use of bowlers in the Perth Test, however they mentioned in the commentary that it was Roach's choice to bowl from what everyone thought was the "wrong" end. How Roach himself didn't notice it after his first two spells - one from either end - is probably the only downside to his impressive series.

It certinaly seemed like Bravo and Ramdin were better and more urgent strategically on the field, occasionally Gayle seemed to let the game drift, but he seems to be able to gel the players well and they play for him, and perhaps a unifying figure was needed after the last year or so of Windies cricket.

[Adelaide Hawk]

HAWK
It was the most amazing ton
Gilly was slogging for a declaration, no pressure, the game was in AU keeping
GAYLE opened the batting, his side 520 behind, and single handedly got WI back in the game
To do that against the new ball was a truly amazing knock

Roy Fredericks was just as good about 34 years ago

Mal, you've played enough cricket to know the ball comes off the bat quicker against the new cherry. Play the innings back and count the number of times Gayle was almost dismissed, especially pre-20. The balls he wasn't scoring from were almost knocking him over. Gilly's innings was almost flawless.

[Booney]

3rd test confortabley?

I say that because how often when 7/for and 100 behind do you get within 40 of the total? Not often I would say.

[cripple]

HAWK
It was the most amazing ton
Gilly was slogging for a declaration, no pressure, the game was in AU keeping
GAYLE opened the batting, his side 520 behind, and single handedly got WI back in the game
To do that against the new ball was a truly amazing knock

Roy Fredericks was just as good about 34 years ago

Mal, you've played enough cricket to know the ball comes off the bat quicker against the new cherry. Play the innings back and count the number of times Gayle was almost dismissed, especially pre-20. The balls he wasn't scoring from were almost knocking him over. Gilly's innings was almost flawless.

And the new ball also swings more prodigously, moves off the seem more, is coming out of the hand of a two freshly rested bowlers. Why bother comparing both innings, they were both fantastic and to say one was worse then the other is just ludicrus. They one thing they do have in common is two ordinary spinners got absoultely spanked as they should have.

[Booney]

On top of this his comments about Rug Bollinger and Nathan Haritz he has also revealed that after amassing over 11,000 Test match runs that the Windies have worked Ponting out. You just bounce him! good work Chris, perhaps have a look at about 4000 of those runs that were scored playing short balls and you might see that although your plan appeared to have worked in the recent series it isnt a long term plan to beat the Aussie skipper.

[cripple]

On top of this his comments about Rug Bollinger and Nathan Haritz he has also revealed that after amassing over 11,000 Test match runs that the Windies have worked Ponting out. You just bounce him! good work Chris, perhaps have a look at about 4000 of those runs that were scored playing short balls and you might see that although your plan appeared to have worked in the recent series it isnt a long term plan to beat the Aussie skipper.

They bounced, he didn't score a ton. it worked for them so cant be to critical of that comment. Well known fact that as batsmen get older, they become less and less comfortable with the short stuff, even the best of them.

[westozfalcon]

HAWK
It was the most amazing ton
Gilly was slogging for a declaration, no pressure, the game was in AU keeping
GAYLE opened the batting, his side 520 behind, and single handedly got WI back in the game
To do that against the new ball was a truly amazing knock

Roy Fredericks was just as good about 34 years ago

Mal, you've played enough cricket to know the ball comes off the bat quicker against the new cherry. Play the innings back and count the number of times Gayle was almost dismissed, especially pre-20. The balls he wasn't scoring from were almost knocking him over. Gilly's innings was almost flawless.

But with the new cherry you are usually facing good fast bowlers. In his innings, Gilchrist mainly took toll on the pie-chucking offerings from Monty Panesar.

Frederick's knock tops both Gayle's and Gilchrist's in view of the calibre of bowlers he faced i.e. Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson.