Chris Gayle joins the West Indies' ODI squad in stellar form. Photo / Photosport
Chris Gayle joins the West Indies' ODI squad in stellar form. Photo / Photosport
Chris Gayle brings some added firepower, but the Black Caps have plans in place to stamp him out, batsman Tom Latham says.
After being decimated by the Black Caps in their two-match test series earlier in the month, the West Indies will get a boost to their lineup with the self-professed 'World Boss' suiting up for their one-day international (ODI) and Twenty20 matches.
Gayle, 38, joins the side for the three-match ODI series, which begins in Whangarei on Wednesday, in blazing form after crushing 18 sixes on his way to scoring 146 runs in the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 final.
"We know what a quality player he is and how much of a threat he can be when he gets going so hopefully we can bowl well to him early on," Latham said.
In ODI cricket, Gayle averages a shade above 37 runs in his 273-match career and against New Zealand he has shown if he gets going he can be hard to stop.
In his last five innings against the Black Caps, dating back to July 2012, Gayle has scored more than 16 runs just twice, but posted scores of 61 and 125 in those two innings.
"We'll have our plans to bowl to him…we've got some good bowlers in our side so hopefully we can contain him," Latham said.
Chris Gayle may have added firepower, but the Black Caps have plans to stamp him out. Photo / Getty
The 25-year-old Cantabrian is expected to captain the side after the first match of the series, with incumbent captain Kane Williamson being rested. The test-opener will also be donning the wicket-keeping gloves and batting in the middle order for the series for the white-ball series.
"There's a little bit more pressure but it's great there's a lot of other guys around the group in terms of the captaincy, lots of senior players that I'm able to lean on.
"Coming in the middle order gives you a little bit more freedom than opening the batting on day one of a test. It's a nice refreshing change and I'm sure the boys are looking to a big part of white-ball cricket coming up over the next few months.
"It's just about being a little bit more aggressive and having a few more options to find boundaries. I guess in test cricket you can sort of wait a little bit and wait for a bad ball whereas in white-ball cricket you have to be a little bit more proactive and try make them bowl bad balls as opposed to waiting for them."
And while the Black Caps seemingly had their way with the West Indies in the test series, Latham said his side were under no illusions that the visitors would go down without a fight, despite being without key players Sunil Ambris, Alzarri Joseph and Marlon Samuels.
"They're a quality side and certainly have a lot of match-winners, so we're going to have to play really well to beat them and certainly looking forward to the challenge ahead."
