Chris Gayle reluctantly but realistically made the decision yesterday that removes for the last and decisive Test against South Africa, the West Indies’ most commanding batsman and, even more significantly, a captain who has immediately inspired his team.
Gayle acknowledged that the damaged hamstring and the fractured left thumb that effectively reduced him to the use of one leg and one hand in the second innings of the second Test on Saturday were such that it would be foolhardy to go against medical opinion and risk further damage in the heat of battle.
It is the first Test he has missed since he was one of those deemed ineligible for the 2005 Bourda Test against South Africa over a contracts dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
The only time he was kept out by injury was on the previous tour of South Africa when he pulled a leg muscle and could not play in the second.
The responsibility of captaincy in a Test will pass to Dwayne Bravo for the first time.
The ebullient, 23-year-old all-rounder was named as Gayle’s deputy for the current tour with no previous experience in the position and, although he enjoys a 100 per cent record in international matches since filling in when Gayle sustained his hamstring injury during the second ODI in Zimbabwe on December 2, it will be a stern examination of his leadership qualities with the series locked 1-1.
Bravo was at the helm when the West Indies won the last two ODIs to take the series in Zimbabwe 3-1 and again when they took the first, rain-shortened Twenty20 International in Port Elizabeth December 16.
The team management is still retaining hope that the other key player fighting for fitness will be ready.
Fidel Edwards, the strike fast bowler who incurred a grade two left hamstring after 4.5 overs on the opening day of the second Test is being treated and monitored on a daily basis.
He is desperate to play but it is highly unlikely that tour selectors Gayle, Bravo, coach John Dyson and manager Clive Lloyd would take a chance on a player who has broken down five times during a Test.
As one whose leadership has been widely credited with the improvement in the West Indies’ standards and the batsman who activates the game plan with his aggression at the top of the order, Gayle is all but irreplaceable.
For his experience and left-handed contrast to the right-handed Daren Ganga, Devon Smith is likely to come in for Gayle in preference to Brenton Parchment, the right-hander who is yet to play a Test.
Both have been woefully short of runs in the few matches available to them in the tight tour itinerary.
It places an even heavier burden on Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the only remaining world-class batsman who has carried the suspect batting on his own since the retirement of Brian Lara after the World Cup in April.
Gayle conceded after the second Test loss, in which Chanderpaul was left stranded in both innings with 65 and 70, that the defiant and consistent left-hander might be moved up from No.5 to No.4 in the order.
It was a consideration during last summer’s series in England when Chanderpaul was once more the rock of the batting. Yet he never moved from No.6.
Rumours circulated here over the weekend that Chanderpaul was returning to his home in Florida to be with his wife, Amy, who gave birth to their first child, a boy, on Saturday.
That may have been the home team’s wishful thinking but the run-machine is going nowhere just yet.
Runako Morton is clearly not suited to the key No.3 spot, a position he is filling while Ramnaresh Sarwan is out of the team recovering fitness and form after a leg injury.
An option would be to switch Morton to No.5 and Samuels to No.3, especially as Samuels has batted with rare application and composure in his four innings.
The one other change is certain to bring Darren Sammy back for Rawl Lewis whose fifth Test in more than 10 years simply exposed his originally flawed selection.
South Africa have injuries of their own but none nearly as weakening as the West Indies’.
Neil McKenzie, brought in for the second Test to replace the out-of-form Herschelle Gibbs, strained a calf muscle running on the heavily grassed Newlands outfield and is out for six weeks.
Illogically, Gibbs, out for a ‘pair’ to Daren Powell in the first Test and without a hundred for 26 Tests, has been retained in the squad and will reportedly return to open with captain Graeme Smith whose match-winning 85 in the second Test was a timely return to form.
Dale Steyn, their fastest and, recently, most successful bowler is carrying a strained hamstring from the second Test and is given only a 50-50 chance of playing.
If he doesn’t, his place with go to Monde Zondeki, a genuinely fast bowler who would share the new ball with the only other black player in the team, Makhaya Ntini.
Zondeki, stepson of South Africa’s late Minister of Sport, Steve Tshwete, is the leading wicket-taker in domestic first-class cricket this season. Among his four returns of five or more wickets in an innings is five for 36 against the West Indies for South Africa ‘A’ in their only first-class match outside the Tests. If he does start, his job would be appreciably less daunting than if Gayle was at the opposite end.
