Gayle blown away by Strauss mind games

{{en|Chris Gayle on the field at the :en:Telst...
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As Damiths at FlySlip points out, Andrew Strauss has shown his cunning side, although Chris Gayle did

As West Indies weren’t already up against it heading into the 2nd test.  Gayle’s position as captain is now pretty much untenable, at least beyond todays match, and his position as a player must come into question as well.  No team wants players who don’t want to play.

Strauss can pat himself on the back, knowing that the West Indies players are now distracted, wondering who their next captain will be, whether they will be the next captain, whether they agree or disagree with their captain and so on and so on.  Ricky Ponting will be a much sterner challenge.

I suspect, though, that this was probably already common knowledge in the West Indies dressing room – if Gayle does not hold back in public, there is less reason to suspect he would do so in private.  After all, if the captain only turns up for the tour two days before the first test, there is good cause to believe that he does not wish to be there at all.

The fact that Gayle is the first high profile player to openly state a preference for the IPL will doubtless cause plenty of fuss in the media and amongst administrators.  He is probably in the minority, however, and worries over the future of test cricket are premature – there are plenty more players who would speak out in favour of it.  Ultimately, if the demand is still there from the broadcasters to show test cricket, it will continue.

Now is the time for the ICC and cricket boards around the world to tinker with the format to ensure that test cricket not only survives, but remains the ultimate test of a players ability.  The decision to continue the umpire review system is a start, although it remains to clarify the procedures to be used.  They have also doubled the fine for slow play, with poor over-rates being one of the biggest problems in test cricket at present.  Spectators do not want to see cricketers standing about and pointing at each other whilst the field is moved around every other delivery.

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