Gayle throws book at critics

London, May 23 

Chris Gayle has insisted that the controversial comments he made to a female television reporter earlier this year were “just a little fun” as he turned on critics including Andrew Flintoff and Ian Chappell.

Chappell and Flintoff, former captains of Australia and England, respectively, were among those to criticise Gayle’s conduct. But Gayle, in an extract from his autobiography published in The Times, said of his remarks during the Melbourne Renegades’ match against Hobart Hurricanes: “I meant it as a joke. I meant it as a little fun. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful and I didn’t mean it to be taken serious.”

International incident

“Channel 10’s commentary team could be heard laughing in the background... but someone above them clearly decided to step in, and a throwaway comment in a fun format escalates and blows up and within hours it has turned into a major international incident.”

Flintoff responded on Twitter by saying Gayle had made himself look a “bit of a chop”. But Gayle, in his autobiography, said: “The only chop Freddie (Flintoff) knows is when he used to bowl short to me and I would chop him past backward point for four.”

As for Chappell, Gayle said: “Ian Chappell, calling for me to banned worldwide, a man who was once convicted of unlawful assault in the West Indies for punching a cricket official. Ian Chappell, how can you ban the Universe Boss? You’d have to ban cricket itself.” — AFP