For the past 12 years, Gayle has been running a roving revue from town to town and ground to ground. And along the way he’s racked up remarkable numbers
Long lost now, deep in the scrapheap of discarded ideas, the International 20:20 was supposed to be a champions’ league between the world’s six best club teams. It was held at Grace Road at the very tail end of the 2005 season. Somerset and Leicestershire represented England. Australia, New Zealand and West Indies weren’t even running domestic T20 competitions yet, so the only overseas teams who turned up were the Chilaw Marians, the Faisalabad Wolves and the Nashua Titans. That left one slot free, so a ragtag PCA Masters XI was roped in to make up the numbers. They were an unlikely lot, with Phil DeFreitas in the middle order and Martin McCague as a specialist No7, who didn’t bowl a single delivery in the tournament. But the selectors did get one thing right. They had Chris Gayle opening the batting.
Related: Chris Gayle: ‘You’re with men. You’re good-looking. What do you expect?’
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