The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has questioned the non-selection of opening West Indies batsman Chris Gayle for the current India tour of the West Indies arguing that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is being hypocritical in the manner in which they are dealing with him.
In a media release last week, WIPA expressed concern “with regard to the Selectors’ Notes No. 4 of May 29 in which the WICB Selection Committee named the squads for the Twenty20 and First and Second One-Day Internationals and the three Test series.”
The note cited that Gayle would not be selected pending “an intended meeting with himself, the Selection Committee, the WICB Management and the West Indies Team Management. The Selection Committee views this meeting as necessary as a result of Gayle’s comments in a widely publicized radio interview in Jamaica.”
WIPA, argued however, that there should not be one rule for one and another for others and pointed to the WICB’s stance taken after comments made by Professor Hilary Beckles at a lecture at the University of the West Indies campus in St. Kitts in which he allegedly compared Gayle to a Jamaican Don.
The WICB stressed that Beckles comments were made in his “private capacity” and was outside the WICB jurisdiction.
WIPA explained that Gayle’s exceptional performance at the Indian Premier League (IPL) warrants certain selection on the Windies team and the statement by the WICB must be carefully examined.
