Chris Gayle expects Test Cricket return by 2016
Former West Indies captain Chris Gayle hopes to return to Test Cricket next year. He has not turned out for the West Indies since 2014 but believes he will soon be back after a two year absence.
The 36-year old has a reputation as a cricketer who values lucrative Twenty20 contracts than Test caps, but he says he wants to play Test Cricket in 2016.
The hard-hitting opener will play for the Melbourne Renegades in the upcoming Big Bash League season instead of the ongoing Test series between against Australia. In the recent clash in Hobart, where the visitors were crushed by an innings and 212 runs.
He hopes to be injury free and able to bolster a struggling West Indies lineup in 2016. In an interview the big West Indian said "There's no way I could have actually been part of that Test team, I'm just coming back from injury,
"I haven't retired from the game. Next year, hopefully Test cricket is on the agenda."
Despite stating that his injury kept him out of the side, Gayle has been playing for the Barisal Bulls in the T20 Bangladesh Premier League since early December. He scored a brutal 47-ball 92 against Chittagong Vikings. Gayle’s effort guided Barisal Bulls to 8-wicket win in the match.
Commenting on that knock the Jamaican said "I scored 92 in a game and the next day felt like I'd been hit by a bus, the body will actually take time to build up gradually.”
In 103 Test matches Gayle has scored 7214 runs with an average of 42.18, 333 being his highest individual Test score, made against Sri Lanka in 2010. He made his test debut against Zimbabwe in 2000 at Queen’s Park Oval and played his last match against Bangladesh in 2014 at Arnos vale Ground.