Chappell calls for wordwide ban
Hobart : Australia veteran all-rounder Shane Watson has said he won’t be disappointed if flamboyant batsman Chris Gayle is denied a return to the Big Bash League (BBL), and added that the West Indian’s controversial post-match interview hardly came as a shock as the behaviour was fairly expected. Watson made it clear he thought Gayle had overstepped the mark with Channel 10 reporter Mel McLaughlin, and supported CA’s plans to ban Gayle. “There is no doubt people have always loved coming along and watching him (Gayle) play because of the entertainment he can certainly provide. But there is always a line outside the game of cricket as well,” Watson was quoted as saying. “In the end the people love the entertainment part of cricket, but there’s also a respect, that part of playing the game on and off the field in the right spirit. In the end there are people who will be making decisions either way (about Gayle’s return). It’s not just what you bring on the field, it’s what you bring off the field as well, which is as important.”
Meanwhile, Australian cricket legend Ian Chappell has called for a worldwide ban on Gayle. Chappell has asked CA to propose a worldwide contracting ban on the big-hitting West Indian. “I wouldn’t have a problem if Cricket Australia said to the clubs, ‘he’s never to be contracted again in this country’,” Chappell was quoted as saying. “And I also wouldn’t have a problem if Cricket Australia said to the ICC, ‘what we’re doing should be worldwide’. “You’d have to talk to the individual countries then… but I wouldn’t have a problem if it was tabled at an ICC meeting that Cricket Australia said, ‘this is what we’re doing and we would recommend that everybody else do the same’,” he said. “How are you going to stop it otherwise?”
