Chris Gayle’s Jekyll and Hyde West Indians

In Robert Louis Stevenson’s book the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde published way back in 1886 the author explores the theory of split personalities.

Stevenson, a Scottish author, vividly portrays the phenomenon in his novella through the characters of Mr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde.

A case of split personality results when it is found that in one individual there exist two personalities one good and one evil with each personality being quite distinct from the other.

The medical term for split personality is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and is a condition where a person displays multiple distinct identities or personalities referred to sometimes as alter egos.

The success of Stevenson’s work resulted in the phrase becoming extremely popular and the term is now widely used to indicate persons who show different moral and other characteristics from one situation to the next.

Chris Gayle’s West Indians seem to embody the Jekyll and Hyde split personality trait in that “when they are good they are very, very good but  when they are bad they are horrid” to use lines from a famous nursery rhyme.

Yesterday they were splendiferous.

At The Oval in their opening match of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) World Twenty20 tournament, the West Indies hammered cricket’s heavyweight champion, Australia, with the ferocity of a Mike Tyson at his prime.

Led by  Gayle’s ferocious onslaught on Brett Lee and company, accompanied by Andre Fletcher’s supporting half century, the West Indies shrugged off the disappointment of their recent dismal series against England with a magnificent display marred only by a  few fielding glitches.

Yes! This is the  same West Indies team that failed to win a match against England  during their test and one day series which ended recently and were forced to settle for wins against Scotland (by 14 runs) and Ireland (by five wickets) for consolation.

The West Indies team that thrashed Australia in yesterday’s 20/20 encounter seemed far removed from the team which had been beaten in both Test matches by England in May, the first test by 10 wickets and the second, by an innings and 83 runs and which slumped to a 2-0 defeat in the three match NatWest one-day series.

Suffice to say Gayle’s West Indians continue to exasperate, infuriate, frustrate and titillate their followers.

Earlier this year they were eeking out a hard fought 1-0 series win over nemesis England in the five test series for the Wisden Trophy and though they lost the one-day series 2-3 they had done enough to regain the confidence of their supporters.

Yesterday they did that and more. They also re-affirmed the belief that on a given day the West Indies team is well nigh unbeatable.  It just depends on which alter ego shows up, Jekyll or Hyde.