West Indies captain Chris Gayle admitted here Wednesday he was considering his own future as a Test cricketer but insisted he did not think the five-day game was dying. The opening batsman, speaking to reporters at the Riverside ahead of the second Test against England which starts here on Thursday, said an interview he'd given to Wednesday's edition of Britain's Guardian newspaper had seen him "misquoted" and misinterpreted".
Gayle reportedly told the Guardian he "would not be so sad" if Tests ceased to exist in an era of Twenty20 cricket. But he insisted his comments were made in reference solely to his own career. "Test cricket is always going to be there, but they were my views on Test cricket as an individual," he told reporters at the Riverside.
"I don't see myself playing Tests for any long period of time. I think Test cricket will always be there. "Twenty20 has come onboard and it's made a huge impact on the world, it's brilliant, games have been sold out and it has taken the place by storm. "I look at Test cricket differently, I don't see it as long term for me, just for me, I'm just speaking about myself."
The West Indies captain's arrival from playing in the lucrative Twenty20 Indian Premier League tournament in South Africa just two days before the start of the first of a two-Test series at Lord's - a match the tourists lost by 10 wickets inside three days to go 1-0 down in the two-match series - led opposite number Andrew Strauss to say he could not imagine an England player turning up from overseas so soon before a Test.
Asked how much longer he would play in the five-day format the 29-year-old Gayle, who led a youthful West Indies team to a 1-0 series win over England in the Caribbean earlier this year, said: "I'm trying to give back to West Indies cricket. "There's a lot of young players here so hopefully with my guidance, and Shiv (Shivnarine Chanderpaul) and (Ramnaresh) Sarwan, we can help the players who come onboard and share our experiences of Test cricket.
Gayle added: "There's a lot of cricket being played and I've started to develop a lot of injuries. It takes a toll on your body and your mental strength so at some stage you aren't going to go on forever. You have to choose what you are going to do as a person."
However, he insisted he had not fallen out of love with Test cricket. "Not yet. As soon as I can't get passionate about Test cricket I'll stop." In his Guardian interview, Gayle suggested Strauss's remarks were motivated by the fact the England opener had not been selected for the IPL.
However, he told reporters at a Riverside news conference: "I respect Strauss, I would never have any conflict with him. I just find it a bit strange that he touched on that sort of point and he should leave it alone. "Maybe he's under a lot of pressure. The Ashes series (England face Australia in a Test campaign starting in July) is huge.
"Maybe he tried to put the pressure on me to try to take a bit of pressure off him. I don't want to get into Strauss too much, we have an important game to play." Turning to the effect of his comments in the Guardian, Gayle added: "It was misquoted and misinterpreted. It won't affect us, we are all big men."
Strauss said later Wednesday that Gayle was entitled to his opinion but stressed: "I certainly feel that Test cricket is the primary format of the game. I think the majority of the cricketers around the world feel that and certainly all the cricketers in the England team feel that as well.
"My view prior to the last Test match was, if that is the case, it needs to get the attention it deserves in terms of preparation and my views haven't changed on that. As for how he got on with Gayle, the Middlesex batsman added: "We haven't been sitting in the bar telling tales of our lives but our relationship has been pretty good. "If he is uncomfortable with what's gone on in the last couple of weeks that's an isssue for him rather than myself."
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