The West Indies includes the islands bordering the Caribbean Sea, plus the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Historically, the term "West India" was sometimes used to mean all these islands as well.

It is often divided up by association with European countries:

• British West Indies
• Dutch West Indies
• French West Indies
• Spanish West Indies
• Danish West Indies

It may further refer to

• Dutch West India Company, a chartered company of Dutch merchants, founded in 1621
• West Indies cricket team
• West Indies Federation, a short-lived federation of former British colonies in the Caribbean
• West India

See also[link]

• Indies
• The West Indian, a 1771 play by Richard Cumberland

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since December 2009. It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Tagged since December 2009. It may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since December 2009. It may be confusing or unclear to readers. Tagged since December 2009.

  

  Indian subcontinent

  Indies

  Western New Guinea

The Indies is a term that has been used to describe the lands of South and Southeast Asia,^[1] occupying all of the present India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and also Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor, Malaysia and most of Indonesia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeastern Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago.^[1][2] The name "Indies" is derived from the river Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that come under Indian cultural influence (except Vietnam which comes under the Sinosphere).

Dutch-held colonies in the area were known as the Dutch East Indies before Indonesian independence, while Spanish-held colonies were known as the Spanish East Indies before the Philippines' independence. The East Indies may also include Indochina, the Philippine Islands, Brunei, Singapore and East Timor. It does not, however, include western New Guinea (West Papua), which is part of Melanesia.

The inhabitants of the East Indies are sometimes called East Indians, distinguishing them both from inhabitants of the Caribbean (which is also called the West Indies) and from the indigenous peoples of the Americas who are often called "American Indians." However, the peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single ethnic group. Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam are the most popular religions throughout the region, while Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism and various other traditional beliefs and practices are also prominent in some areas. The major languages in this area draw from a wide variety of language families, and should not be confused with the term Indic, which refers only to a group of Indo-Iranian languages from South Asia.

The extensive East Indies are subdivided into two sections (from a European perspective), archaically called Hither India and Further India. The first is the former British India, the second is modern Southeast Asia or the ASEAN Bloc.

Regions of the East Indies are sometimes known by the colonial empire they once belonged to, hence, British East Indies refers to Malaysia, the Dutch East Indies means Indonesia, and Spanish East Indies means the Philippines.

Historically, the king of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) was identified with "Prester John of the Indies", since that part of the world was imagined to be one of "Three Indias".

History[link]

Exploration of these regions by European powers first began in the late 15th century and early 16th century, led by the Portuguese explorers. These regions became important sources of trading goods, particularly cotton, indigo and spices after the establishment of European trading companies designed for the specific purpose: the British East India Company and Dutch East India Company, among others, in the 17th century.

The New World was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the Indies by explorer Christopher Columbus, who had grossly underestimated the westerly distance from Europe to Asia. Later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the "West Indies", while the original Indies came to be called the "East Indies".

The racial designation East Indian was once primarily used to describe people of all of the East Indies, but more recently, it has been used widely to refer to an Indian from India, in order to avoid the potential confusion from the term American Indian who were once simply referred to as Indians (see the Native American name controversy for more information).

See also[link]

• Greater India
• Indian (disambiguation)
• Malay Archipelago
• Discovery of the Americas
• Spanish East Indies
• West Indies

References[link]

v t e Regions of the World Africa Northern Middle East Sub-Saharan Central Southern Western Eastern Oceania Australasia Australia Zealandia Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia America North Northern Middle Central Caribbean South Southern Northern Western Guianan States Anglo Latin (Hispanic) Polar regions Arctic Antarctic Asia Central Eastern Northeastern Northern Southeastern Mainland Maritime Southern Indian subcontinent Western Middle East Oceans World Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Southern Europe Central Eastern Northern Southeastern Middle East Southern Western Seas List of seas Related Continents of the world List of seas Physical Earth

Coordinates: 1°00′N 103°00′E / 1°N 103°E / 1; 103

Sir Viv Richards

Personal information
Full name	Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards
Born	(1952-03-07) 7 March 1952 (age 60) St. John's, Antigua
Nickname	Master Blaster, Smokey, Smokin Joe, King Viv
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm medium/off-break
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut (cap 151)	22 November 1974 v India
Last Test	8 August 1991 v England
ODI debut (cap 14)	7 June 1975 v Sri Lanka
Last ODI	27 May 1991 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1990–1993	Glamorgan
1976–1977	Queensland
1974–1986	Somerset
1971–1991	Leeward Islands
1971–1981	Combined Islands
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	121	187	507	500
Runs scored	8,540	6,721	36,212	16,995
Batting average	50.23	47.00	49.40	41.96
100s/50s	24/45	11/45	114/162	26/109
Top score	291	189*	322	189*
Balls bowled	5,170	5,644	23,226	12,214
Wickets	32	118	223	290
Bowling average	61.37	35.83	45.15	30.59
5 wickets in innings	0	2	1	3
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	2/17	6/41	5/88	6/24
Catches/stumpings	122/–	100/–	464/1	238/–
Source: cricketarchive.com, 18 August 2007

Viv Richards' career performance graph.

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, KNH, OBE (born 7 March 1952) is a former West Indian cricketer. Known as Viv (or King Viv^[1]), Richards was voted one of the five Cricketers of the Century in 2000, by a 100-member panel of experts, along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Shane Warne.^[2] In February 2002, he was judged by Wisden to have played the best One Day International (ODI) innings of all time.^[3] In December 2002, he was chosen by Wisden as the greatest ODI batsman of all time, as well as the third greatest Test batsman of all time, after Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar.^[4]

Personality and playing style[link]

Richards was a very powerful right-handed batsman with an extremely attacking style, besides being an excellent fielder, and a handy off-spin bowler. He is often regarded as the most devastating batsman that ever played the game by cricketers, journalists, fans and others alike,^[5][6] and played his entire career without a helmet, across the 17 years from 1974 till 1991.^[5][6][7]

Several prominent personalities including former cricketer and legendary fast bowler and all-rounder Imran Khan and noted writer John Birmingham are of the opinion that Richards was the best ever batsman against genuine fast bowling.^[8][9] Many other former players of the game rate him extremely high overall as a batsman. For Barry Richards, Ravi Shastri and Neil Fairbrother, he remains the best batsman they ever witnessed.^[10][11][12] Wasim Akram rates Richards the greatest batsman he ever bowled to, ahead of Sunil Gavaskar and Martin Crowe.^[13] Martin Crowe, arguably the greatest batsman to have ever emerged from New Zealand, rates Viv Richards as the best batsman he played against along with Greg Chappell. Richards was also Crowe's cricketing idol along with Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers and Greg Chappell.^[14]

The ICC came out with their rankings for the best batsmen and bowlers in the history of the game for both the longer and shorter versions. The ratings for Test Cricket had Vivian Richards ranked at 6 equal after Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Len Hutton, Sir Jack Hobbs, Ricky Ponting and Peter May.^[15] The ODI ratings again had Richards comfortably perched at 1 followed by Zaheer Abbas and Greg Chappell.^[16] These rankings were based on the level achieved by the batsmen at their respective peaks.

In 2004, in a poll by ESPN, participated in by 15 of the leading names in cricketing history, Richards was voted the third greatest ever player after Bradman and Sobers, and the second greatest ever batsman after Bradman.^[17] He was also voted the greatest cricketer since 1970 by another poll ahead of Ian Botham and Shane Warne.^[18] That poll saw both Botham and Warne vote for Richards, and in the opinions of both, Richards is the greatest batsman they ever saw. In 2006, in a study done by a team of ESPN's Cricinfo magazine, Richards was again chosen the greatest ODI Batsman ever.^[19] Former cricketer Derek Pringle also rates Richards to be the best batsman ever in the history of Limited Overs Cricket.^[20]

His fearless and aggressive style of play, and relaxed but determined demeanor made him a great crowd favourite and an intimidating prospect for opposition bowlers all over the world. The word "swagger" is frequently used to describe his batting style.^[9][21] His batting often completely dominated opposing bowlers.^[9][21] He had the ability to drive good-length balls from outside off-stump through midwicket, his trademark shot, and was one of the great exponents of the hook shot.^{[citation needed]}

International career[link]

Richards made his Test match debut for the West Indian cricket team in 1974 against India in Bangalore. He made an unbeaten 192 in the second Test of the same series in New Delhi. The West Indies saw him as a strong opener and he kept his profile up in the early years of his promising career.

In his Test career, he scored 8,540 runs in 121 Test matches at an average of 50.23 (including 24 centuries). Richards also scored 5 centuries in World Series Cricket between 1977–79. These are not recognised by the ICC as "official" Test centuries, but the high standard of cricket played in this series means that they can arguably be ranked alongside his 24 Test centuries. Richards won 27 of 50 matches as a Test captain, and lost only 8. He is also the scorer of the fastest-ever Test century, from just 56 balls against England in Antigua during the 1986 tour. He hit 84 sixes in Test cricket. His highest innings of 291 is sixth on the list of West Indies' highest individual scores.

In 1975 Richards helped the West Indies to win the inaugural Cricket World Cup final, a feat he later described as the most memorable of his career.^{[citation needed]} He starred in the field, running out Alan Turner, Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell. The West Indies were again able to win the following World Cup in 1979, thanks to a Richards century in the final at Lord's, and Richards believes that on both occasions, despite internal island divisions, the Caribbean came together.^[22] He was until 2005 the only man to score a century and take 5 wickets in the same one-day international, against New Zealand at Dunedin in 1986–87. He rescued his side from a perilous position at Old Trafford in 1984 and, in partnership with Michael Holding, smashed 189 to win the game off his own bat.

1976 was perhaps Richards' finest year: he scored 1710 runs, at an astonishing average of 90.00, with seven centuries in 11 Tests. This achievement is all the more remarkable considering he missed the second Test at Lord's after contracting glandular fever; yet he returned to score his career-best 291 at the Oval later in the summer. This tally stood as the world record for most Test runs by a batsman in a single calendar year for 30 years until broken by Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan on 30 November 2006.

Richards captained the West Indies in 50 Test matches from 1984–1991. He is the only West Indies captain never to lose a Test series, and it is said that his fierce will to win contributed to this achievement. His captaincy was, however, not without controversy: one incident was his aggressive, "finger-flapping" appeal leading to the incorrect dismissal of England batsman Rob Bailey in the Barbados Test in 1990, which was described by Wisden as "at best undignified and unsightly. At worst, it was calculated gamesmanship".^[23] This behaviour would nowadays be penalised according to Section 2.5. of the Rules of Conduct of the ICC Code of Conduct.^[24]

Viv's featured in the documentary movie Fire in Babylon and spoke about his matches.

English county cricket[link]

Richards had a long and successful career in the County Championship in England, playing for many years for Somerset. In 1983, the team won the NatWest Trophy, with Richards and close friend Ian Botham having a playful slugging match in the final few overs.

However, despite his totemic presence at the club, over time his performances declined and the county finished bottom of the County Championship in 1985, and next to bottom in 1986. New team captain Peter Roebuck became the centre of a controversy when he was instrumental in the county's decision not to renew the contracts of Richards and compatriot Joel Garner for the 1987 season, whose runs and wickets had brought the county much success in the previous eight years. Somerset proposed to replace the pair with New Zealand batsman Martin Crowe, and consequently all-rounder Botham refused a new contract and joined Worcestershire. After many years of bitterness and the eventual removal of Roebuck from the club, Richards was honoured with the naming of a set of entrance gates and a stand after him at the County Ground, Taunton.

After his sacking from Somerset, Richards spent the 1987 season in the Lancashire League playing as Rishton CC's professional,^[25] in preparation for the West Indies tour the following season. Richards returned to county cricket for the 1990 season towards the end of his career to play for Glamorgan, helping them to win the AXA Sunday League in 1993.

Retirement[link]

Richards being interviewed after a cricket match in 2006

Apart from his very exciting style of play, Richards is held in great public esteem for his personal principles in refusing a "blank-cheque" offer to play for a rebel West Indies squad in South Africa during the Apartheid era in 1983, and again in 1984.

Richards remains one of only four non-English cricketers to have scored 100 first-class centuries, the others being Australian Donald Bradman, New Zealander Glenn Turner and Pakistani Zaheer Abbas

He was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1977.

In 2000, Richards was named by a 100-member panel of experts one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century. He received 25 votes, behind Sir Donald Bradman (100 votes), Sir Garfield Sobers (90 votes), Sir Jack Hobbs (30 votes) and Shane Warne (27 votes).

He also played international football for Antigua, appearing in qualifying matches for the 1974 World Cup.^[26]

Richards is frequently heard on BBC's Test Match Special (TMS).^[27]

Personal life[link]

Richards and his wife Miriam have two children: Matara, who currently lives in Toronto, Canada, and Mali, who has also played first-class cricket.

Richards had a brief relationship with Indian actress Neena Gupta,^[28] with whom he has a daughter, Masaba,^[29] born in 1989.^[30]

Honours[link]

In 1994, Richards was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket.^[31] In 1999, he was made a Knight of the Order of the National Hero (KNH) by his native country Antigua and Barbuda.^[32]

The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, is named in his honour. It was built for use in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

See also[link]

Cricket portal

• List of international cricket centuries by Viv Richards

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Viv Richards

• Antigua's National Hero links
• Player profile: Viv Richards from ESPNcricinfo
• Viv Richards at the Internet Movie Database

v t e West Indies squad – World Series Cricket 1 Lloyd (c) 2 Allen 3 Austin 4 Croft 5 Daniel 6 Fredericks 7 Garner 8 Gibbs 9 Greenidge 10 Haynes 11 Holding 12 Holford 13 Julien 14 Kanhai 15 King 16 Murray (wk) 17 Padmore 18 Richards 19 Roberts 20 Rowe

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle at the Docklands, 2005
Personal information
Full name	Christopher Henry Gayle
Born	(1979-09-21) 21 September 1979 (age 32) Kingston, Jamaica
Nickname	Gayleforce,GayleStorm
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right arm offbreak
Role	All-Rounder
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut (cap 232)	16 March 2000 v Zimbabwe
Last Test	5 December 2010 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 97)	11 September 1999 v India
Last ODI	23 March 2011 v Pakistan
ODI shirt no.	45
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1998–2008, 2010 –	Jamaica (squad no. 333)
2005	Worcestershire
2008–2010	Kolkata Knight Riders
2009–2011	Western Warriors
2011–	Royal Challengers Bangalore
2011–	Sydney Thunder
2012–	Barisal Burners
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	91	228	166	294
Runs scored	6,373	8,087	12,294	10,526
Batting average	41.65	39.06	45.03	39.72
100s/50s	13/33	19/43	30/59	22/59
Top score	333	153*	333	153*
Balls bowled	6,857	6,936	12,247	9,074
Wickets	72	156	131	213
Bowling average	41.59	35.08	38.67	32.14
5 wickets in innings	2	1	2	1
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	5/34	5/46	5/34	5/46
Catches/stumpings	85/–	99/–	144/–	125/–
Source: Cricinfo, 27th May 2012

Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies."Chris Gayle". http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/51880.html.  He captained the West Indies' Test side from 2007 to 2010. He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors and the Kolkata Knight Riders. He is currently signed with Royal Challenger Bangalore in the Indian Premier League. Gayle represents the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and the Barisal Burners in the Bangladesh Premier League. He is one of only four players who have scored two triple centuries at Test level: 317 against South Africa in 2005, and 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010.

Career[link]

Chris Gayle played for the West Indies at youth international level prior to making his first-class debut aged 19 for Jamaica. He played his first One Day International 11 months later, and his first Test match 6 months after that. Gayle, who normally opens the innings when he plays for the West Indies, is a destructive batsman who is most effective playing square of the wicket. In July 2001, Gayle (175), together with Daren Ganga (89) established the record for opening partnerships at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo when they put on 214 together against Zimbabwe.

However, generally speaking he had a slow start to his international career, but invigorated it in 2002, ending the year with three centuries against India in November and becoming the third West Indian to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year, along with Vivian Richards and Brian Lara. He is one of only six players in One Day International history to have three or more scores of 150. In 2005, Gayle was dropped for the first Test against South Africa along with six other players following a dispute over sponsorship issues (see below). He returned for the second test but had a poor series until the fourth Test, where he made a match-saving 317. It was the first ever triple century against South Africa and up until Mahela Jayawardene made 374, it was the highest individual Test score against them.

In August 2005, Gayle joined Worcestershire for the rest of the English season, playing eight matches. He made two half-centuries in three first class matches and two half-centuries in five one-day matches, and won one Man of the Match award in the one-day National League. However, Worcestershire were relegated after Gayle made 1 in the final match against Lancashire. Gayle was named Player of the 2006 Champions Trophy, where the West Indies nearly defended the title which they won in 2004, being defeated in the final by Australia. Gayle scored three centuries and totaled 474 runs, 150 more than any other batsman, and also took eight wickets in as many matches. Gayle, in keeping with the rest of the West Indies team, had a poor World Cup in 2007. He recorded a series of low scores; the one exception being a blistering 79 off 58 balls against England in the West Indies' final match.

On 17 December 2009 in the Australia v West Indies 3rd Test Chris Gayle scored the fifth fastest century in Test match history. He reached the century in just 70 balls. However he was shortly after dismissed for 102 runs. This feat included a flurry of runs thanks to some big hitting sixes. One of the sixes hit the Lillee Marsh stand's roof in a monstrous hit that was estimated by commentator, Ian Healy, to be approx 140 metres long. On 16 November 2010, he became the fourth cricketer to score two triple centuries in Test cricket after Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag.^[2]

Twenty20[link]

Gayle set the record for the highest innings in a Twenty20 International, scoring 117 against South Africa in the first match of the 2007 World Twenty20.^[3] The innings was the first century in international Twenty20 cricket and made him the first batsman to score a century in each of international cricket's three formats.^[4] The record stood unmatched until 19 February 2012, when South Africa's Richard Levi scored 117n.o. against New Zealand; Cricinfo recognised Levi as having broken the record outright, because a not out innings is ranked above a dismissal.^[5]

In the semi-final match of the 2009 World Twenty20 against Sri Lanka, he became the first international player to carry his bat through the entire innings in this format of the game as well. In April 2008, Gayle was auctioned by the franchise Kolkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League, but missed the opening games due to a Sri Lanka tour to the Caribbean. When he finally joined the team, he missed out on the action due to a groin injury he picked up during that tour. Afterwards, he left to join the West Indies team for a home series against Australia, therefore not playing in the inaugural version of the IPL at all. On 1 July 2009, Gayle signed with the Western Australia Warriors for the Australian Domestic Twenty20 tournament known as the Big Bash for the 2009–10 season.

He played in the second IPL competition in early 2009, arriving for an away Test series against England very late, earning criticism about his commitment.^[6] His Test series went poorly, and the West Indies went on to lose both the Test and ODI series. Gayle, however, went to on score a match winning 88 in the first official match of the 2009 Twenty20, in a surprise victory over Australia.^[7]

In 2011, after being left out of the initial part of the West Indies T20 and one-day home series against Pakistan, Gayle opted to join the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League.^[8] In his first game against his previous team Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored 102 off 55 balls, hitting 10 fours and 7 sixes.^[9] On May 6, 2011, he scored another century, 107 off 49 balls against the Kings XI Punjab, which included 10 fours and 9 sixes.^[10] In the next match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, he scored 37 runs in one over, which included 3 sixes, 3 fours and a no ball which was hit for a six.^[11][12] Although many people cite him as having hit the over for 37, one run was awarded as an extra due to the no ball. He can therefore be said to have hit 36 off an over which went for 37. Gayle won the Orange Cap Award for scoring the most runs in the tournament amassing 608 runs in 12 matches.^[13] He was instrumental in many victories for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and received five man of the match awards and also the player of the tournament award for his performances.^[14] In the 2011 Champions League Twenty20, Chris Gayle was the second highest run-scorer in the competition, behind David Warner, with 257 runs from 6 matches at an average of 42.83 and a top score of 92, and was one of the star players.^[15]

Following his prolific performances and the rubber-stamp being stamped that he is the ultimate pinch-hitter, Gayle was signed by Zimbabwean franchise Matabeleland Tuskers, for the 2011-12 Stanbic Bank 20 Series.^[16] As Gayle later recalled it was valuable practice ahead of the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, where he had signed for the Sydney Thunder.^[17][18] Gayle hoped his first appearance in the tournament was a success, and he gave the spectators something to cheer about. Gayle was the second West Indian to be signed in the event, after the legendary Brian Lara had signed for Southern Rocks the previous season.

Gayle had tremendous success in that tournament. He was the leading run-scorer in that series with 293 runs, a top score of 109, and an average over 50. He was also the best batsman of the tournament.^[19] Ironically, the only century Gayle scored in the event ended in defeat as Mid West Rhinos's Brendan Taylor's outstanding 75* outlasted his team.^[20] The Tuskers could not win the tournament as the were overpowered by Mashonaland Eagles's Ryan ten Doeschate's brilliant 121* off 58 and despite Gayle scoring a blistering half-century, it was not to see his home through.^[21]

Gayle plays for Barisal Burners at the Bangladesh Premier League, and has scored two dominating centuries at more than double per ball.^[22]

In the 2012 IPL season, Gayle hit the most sixes (59)^[23] and was nominated for the orange cap for making 733 in 15 matches. ^[24].

List of Twenty20 centuries[link]

Chris Gayle holds the record for most centuries in Twenty20 cricket (8). Here is the list of all his Twenty20 hundreds

Controversies[link]

Despite being regarded as a calm, cool cricketer,^[26] In 2005 Gayle was involved in the dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and a number of players over sponsorship issues. These players had personal sponsorship deals with Cable and Wireless, who used to sponsor West Indian cricket. However, since the West Indies had recently become sponsored by Cable and Wireless' rivals Digicel the West Indies Cricket Board demanded the players dropped their Cable and Wireless deals. When the players refused to back down, the West Indies Cricket Board dropped them for the first Test against South Africa.^[27] Gayle later cut his deal with Cable and Wireless and rejoined the side for the second Test. He was charged with conduct contrary to the spirit of cricket during a Test against New Zealand in March 2006, but was subsequently found not guilty.^[28] Later that year, during October's Champions Trophy tournament in India, he was fined 30 percent of his match fee after repeated verbal exchanges with the Australian batsman Michael Clarke.^[29] He also publicly criticised the West Indies Cricket Board during the 2007 tour of England which led to an official reprimand and warning.^[30]

Gayle also received criticism in early 2009 during West Indies' tour of England, where he commented that he did not want to captain the West Indies anymore given the pressures involved, and that he "wouldn't be so sad" if Test cricket was superseded by Twenty20 cricket in the future.^[6] From the West Indies, both Viv Richards and Gary Sobers criticised Gayle's comments, as did opposite number Andrew Strauss.^[31] Gayle later commented that his statement had been quoted out of context, according to Julian Hunte, President of the West Indies Cricket Board.^[32] In an interview with Michael Atherton at the conclusion of a West Indies defeat in their tour of England, Gayle stated that he was not going to resign the captaincy.^[33]

In April 2011 Gayle criticised the West Indies Cricket Board and coach Ottis Gibson and has not played for the team since. On April 6, 2012, Gayle and the WICB reached an understanding that paves the way for the former West Indies captain to return to the national team. He hasn't played cricket for the West Indies since March 23 in the World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan.^[34]

Player statistics[link]

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Gayle's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Test centuries[link]

The following table illustrates a summary of the Test centuries scored by Chris Gayle.

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out.
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of his career.

Test Centuries of Chris Gayle[35]
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	175	10	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	2001	Won
2	204	23	New Zealand	St. George's, Grenada	National Cricket Stadium	2002	Drawn
3	116	36	South Africa	Cape Town, South Africa	Newlands	2004	Drawn
4	107	37	South Africa	Centurion, South Africa	SuperSport Park	2004	Lost
5	141	42	Bangladesh	Gros Islet, St Lucia	Beausejour Cricket Ground	2004	Drawn
6	105	47	England	London, England	The Oval	2004	Lost
7	317	50	South Africa	St. John's, Antigua	Antigua Recreation Ground	2005	Drawn
8	197	75	New Zealand	Napier, New Zealand	McLean Park	2008	Drawn
9	104	76	England	Kingston, Jamaica	Sabina Park	2009	Won
10	104	80	England	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Queen's Park Oval	2009	Drawn
11	165*	84	Australia	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2009	Drawn
12	102	85	Australia	Perth, Australia	WACA Ground	2009	Lost
13	333	89	Sri Lanka	Galle, Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium	2010	Drawn