Gayle: I will 'stand up' to WICB
West Indies captain Chris Gayle says he will "stand up" to the WICB's attempt to censure him for a diary entry that criticised the board's mismanagement of the U.K. tour.
"When I am wrong, I am wrong and when I am right I just have to accept the task ahead and deal with it as a man and face whatever consequences if there are going to be any or anything like that. I am always ready for anything," Gayle said in a Q&A session with reporters ahead of the first 20/20 game against England.
On whether it is hard to concentrate on the game given the extraneous circumstances:
I'm a professional, it's not only me but all the guys are looking forward to the game tomorrow. All the guys are in good shape and having a hit and everyone is looking good for tomorrow and we are waiting for that moment. I have been in tougher situations than this before and I have dug myself out of it.
I am looking forward to contribute to the team and hopefully tomorrow will be a good start for us. It has been a good unit so far, hopefully we can transform what we did in the practice games and contribute in the middle tomorrow. It would be much easier if we start off on a winning note. Tomorrow's game can really set us up. It would be a motivational factor for us as well.
On whether extraneous matters bother him:
To be honest I don't think it is the right time to deal with these things. I have handed it over to WIPA and I will let WIPA deal with it. I have the cricket to focus on so I have put that aside, put the negatives aside and try to be positive. I have a role to play as a captain, the guys need my support out there and I am going to get the same from them as well. There is no love lost between me and the board (WICB), there is no tug-o-war. It's a situation where these things do happen, you have to move on in life and we can't take anything personal against each other.
On whether he fears that this will be his last international cricket:
I'm a big man. I am always up for the challenge, whatever the situation may be I am pretty much there to handle it. I guess I will have to deal with whatever circumstance it may be.
On whether he will need to be more intense being captain:
You will see me more intense out there, trying to motivate the guys more and those sort of things. These little things you put in place and see how you get the best out of your players and hopefully they can contribute and cooperate with each other and may the best thing come out there.
On whether it is a question of the team trying to regain pride:
There is a lot of pride to gain in this one day series. We're just going to take nothing for granted out there.
On whether he is looking forward for the end of the tour:
Not really, it hasn't been the best summer for me as an individual. I haven't scored any runs at all as a senior player as well. I have to put up my hand to that and try and grasp more opportunities out there and stay in the middle a bit longer and try and give the team a good start. Once you can lead from the front it would be much easier for the rest of guys.
On whether Windies can give England a run for their money in this series:
I think we can do that. England is in the same sort of boat, they haven't been playing good One Day cricket so it's going to be 50-50 out there tomorrow.
On whether he is tired and does not want to continue playing:
This is my job, my profession and I always want to play cricket, always want to be on the field, contribute to West Indies cricket in whichever way I can so it doesn't stop right here, there is still a long way to go.
On whether the players played the full complement of Stanford 20/20:
Not all the guys played in the Stanford 20/20 so basically it (20/20 cricket) is new to some of the guys. Some guys were away doing international duties at the time so not all the guys have played a lot of 20/20 but guys are accustomed to One Day cricket. It is a shorter version of the game and it is up to us to lift our game and it is a fast paced game as well so there is no time for error out there.
On whether this is the toughest tour he has been on:
I can't recall at this moment but this is crunch time, it has been a challenge to deal with everything happening at once but as I said, as you go on in life things are going to get tougher and tougher so once you deal with these sort of situations and be a man to stand up and handle it. The quicker you handle the situation it will be better for you and you can move on in life.
On whether once the tour is over he will have to stand up to the board:
Yes, that's me, when I am wrong, I am wrong and when I am right I just have to accept the task ahead and deal with it as a man and face whatever consequences if there are going to be any or anything like that. I am always ready for anything.
On why he did not apologize to the WICB:
It was a situation which I don't wish to go into right now because of the way things have been handled so far I can't make a comment right now but maybe you can catch me another time and I will explain it to you.
On whether he feels his captaincy has been undermined:
To be honest I didn't get that reaction from any of the guys. All the guys were fully supportive of it, I didn't get any sort of reaction from anyone. I get along well with everyone on the team and everyone really respects me and I respect them as well so that makes it a lot easier for me to go out there and try and do the duties.
On what contact he has had with Dinanath Ramnarine over the last few days:
Just a small conversation with him, we discussed a few things and try and put things in place. It wasn't any big issue or anything like that, just a few discussions he wanted to find out what has been happening so I explained it to him as the president of WIPA.