The Jamaican man mountain

The anxiety around Jamaica is palpable.

It is not triggered so much by whether or not Chris Gayle will, in that unflustered manner of his, saunter on to Sabina Park in his native Kingston on Sunday for the first Test against New Zealand that marks the momentous occasion of his 100th. He put the worriers' minds at rest on that score on Thursday by proclaiming, "I am fit, available and will be playing on Sunday, and I am looking forward to it".

He went further, dismissing talk that he was contemplating retirement from Test cricket after the series. It was a telling contradiction of his much-quoted comment prior to the 2009 tour of England that he wouldn't care if Test cricket died. Seduced by the appeal and his success in the T20 game, it was no more than a throwaway line. The Jamaican man mountain