Rain, No Play

Chris Gayle - "a very proficient spinner at Test level"

Now we know why a specialist spinner wasn't picked for the Windies' tour to England - because opening batsman Chris Gayle is the region's best spin option for Tests. That according to new coach David Moore.

You've got to be kidding me, right? Now Gayle is not a lollipop bowler like Carl Hooper , but I've never thought that his flat offspin could be confused with genuine Test level spin. He's a pretty decent bowler in one day matches, but that's a whole different game from Test cricket. However according to Moore, Gayle is "a very proficient spinner at Test level". No disrespect to Gayle, but that's stretching things more than just a little.

Never mind the fact that to say that Gayle "spins the ball" would be generous, since his "offbreaks" generally go straight on, let's look at his stats to see if he is "very proficient" at Test level.

In 64 Test matches Gayle has taken 53 wickets at an average of 38.69 runs per wicket and at a strike rate of 91.05 (or a wicket every 91.05 deliveries). He has taken two five wicket hauls including a career best of 6/81. Those are hardly the figures of a "very proficient" Test bowler. For comparison, English up and comer Monty Panesar has taken 42 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 33.71, Harbhajan Singh of India has taken 238 wickets in 57 matches at an average of 29.86, while the best off spinner in the world, Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka has taken 674 wicketa in 110 Tests at an average of 21.73. Is Gayle in their league? Even the relatively inexperienced Panesar is miles ahead of Gayle as an off-spinner.

Moore further goes on to state that the young spinners should be inserted on A teams and allowed to develop there. However by his own admission, Omari Banks and Dave Mohammed have been on A Teams before and in fact on Test teams. His argument against their inclusion of "...it's not the time to blood young players - whether there are spinners, batters or bowlers - in Test series" cannot hold water by the fact that Banks and Mohammed have played at the Test level before, Banks in 10 matches and Mohammed in 5. How are they to develop if they are not given a consistent run? The stop and start Test career does very little to encourage their development. And what of Amit Jaggernauth, the promising young Trinidad spinner? They need to be developed.

At this time the West Indies lack four top quality fast bowlers. In fact, they are hard pressed to find even one or two consistent world class pacers. Back in the Windies glory days the four pronged pace attack worked because the team had four pace bowlers who were some of the best in the world. The Windies don't have that now and the variety that a genuine spinner, even if not a world class one, could bring would add another aspect to a potentially ineffective bowling quartet.

There is some truth however, to Moore's claim as Gayle's 53 Test wickets are third on the team behind Corey Collymore (82) and Fidel Edwards (63). So Gayle, with his flat, gentle offspin, has one of the top Test bowling resumes in the team, and that fact must be a source of grave concern for the West Indies.

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