Rafi Ali who was president of the Esmeralda Cricket Club and a nominated member of the TTCB made the comments while Ramnarine was a member of the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago.
In addressing the matter, Master of the High Court Martha Alexander insisted that Ali acted deliberately, jeeringly, and maliciously. She believed the judgment would “serve to caution any defendant who uses Facebook or any other social media platform to libel and destroy a claimant’s reputation that he will feel the punitive arm of the court acting to deter such behaviour.”
She added that Ali’s Facebook statement was posted to destroy Ramnarine’s reputation.
“And the court must send a message that such reckless abuse of social media platforms must stop. The defendant before this court will not be allowed to use Facebook to boost his popularity at the claimant’s expense or ‘to sell another man’s reputation for profit.”
The fees amounted to US$114,382 in damages, plus interest and an additional US$8,386 in legal fees.
Phillips, who played several years for the country’s Jamaica Tallawahs franchise in the CPL, looked right at home as he blasted 76 from 31 deliveries. The batsman was aided in the carnage by Daryl Mitchell who made 48 from 20 as the pair put on 83 for the fourth wicket.
No Windies bowler, in particular, did well against the onslaught with Obed McKoy claiming the best bowling figures with 3 for 40.
In reply, the West Indies never looked like making a game of the run chase. They managed just 125 for 9 in reply, lacking the partnerships that underpinned New Zealand's record innings, which was the most by a visiting team in the Caribbean.
With the top order vanishing in dizzying fashion, the Windies did not get a decent partnership until lower down the innings. The best two were 35 for the seventh wicket between Romario Shepherd and Rovman Powell, but that came when the Windies were 40 for 6 and well out of the game. Hayden Walsh and Obed McCoy put on 38 in an unbroken stand for the last wicket.
Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell did the damage for New Zealand with the ball, both finishing with 3 for 15.
Lloyd the former two-time World Cup-winning captain was honoured with a CBEs (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to the sport of cricket.
The Guyana-born batsman played for the English County cricket club of Lancashire between 1968 until 1986. During that time the team won two One-Day League titles in 1969 and 1970 and four Friends Provident Trophy titles between 1970 and 1975.
Lloyd captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and is one of the most successful Test captains in the sport’s history. During his captaincy, the team had a run of 27 matches without defeat, which included 11 wins in a row. Lloyd was also named Wisden’s Cricketer of the Year in 1979.
After retiring from the sport, Lloyd went on to manage the West Indies in the late 1990s and also served as a member of the team's panel of selectors. For his exploits, Lloyd was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
The 21-year-old Windwards Islands Volcanoes batsman was part of the squad that contested the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. Since making his First-Class debut in 2019, for the Volcanoes, he had made three half-centuries in 9 matches.
For the upcoming season, the middle-order batsman will once again form part of the Windward Islands squad looking to claim a 5th Regional Super50 crown. With plenty of international cricket on the horizon this year, including Caribbean tours for Sri Lanka, Australia, and Pakistan, Stewart knows a solid season could place him squarely in the thoughts of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) selectors.
“I think it’s an important year for cricket in the Caribbean, a lot of teams are touring the Caribbean,” Stewart told Grenada’s Talksport.
“So, I think what I have control over is my performance and once I continue putting the numbers up, then that is the most I can do,” he added.
“As long as I continue playing, I will continue putting my focus on those numbers and keep progressing for the Windwards and hopefully eventually the West Indies too.”
According to reports, Moseley, who celebrated his 63rd birthday in January, was struck from his bicycle by an SUV early in the morning.
Moseley was one of several players slapped with a lifetime ban after taking part in the West Indies rebel tour of South Africa in 1982-83. The ban was, however, later lifted and he went on to represent the West Indies in two Tests, in 1990, in England, at the age of 32, and also played in nine One-Day Internationals.
Later on, Moseley served as a national selector for the Barbados senior men’s team, the successful Barbados women’s team, and was also an assistant coach for the West Indies’ women’s team.
The 31-year-old batsman struggled to make an impact in the opener, dismissed for 11 in the first innings before being one of three batsmen dislodged in a brutal spell from Khaled Ahmed, this time without scoring.
Reifer cobbled together a strong season for the eventual champions Barbados Pride scoring 345 runs at an average of 49.28 in five matches. Typically, however, the batsman was deployed to the middle order.
“Where he is batting is not where he batted throughout the season, which was at number 5, number six and you could understand that,” Joseph told the Mason and Guest radio show.
“To be honest when I just saw his name, I thought he might have been there to replace Kemar Roach who had some injury issues…it was really surprising to me that they had him as the number three batter,” he added.
“It was a bit of a shock…the selection of batting Reifer there was kind of baffling and it’s still baffling now because we are looking to see what the next move is, if they will carry on with him.”
Brathwaite, who was not selected for the West Indies team for the T20 World Cup, was the leading wicket-taker for the team last season after taking 18. He was also handy with the bat as well, scoring a tidy 183 runs.
The former West Indies T20 captain played a crucial role in helping the Bears reach the quarter-finals for the first time in four years last season, his first with the club.
The 33-year-old big hitter is excited to be rejoining the team for the 2022 editions of the tournament, particularly with fans not allowed to return to the stands.
"Edgbaston is a very special place to play at and it was great to get a taste of the atmosphere last year," Brathwaite said. "Hopefully we can welcome thousands more fans to get the Eric Hollies Stand rocking next year and make Edgbaston the real fortress for the Bears which it's renowned for,” he added.
Brathwaite, who will be available for the whole tournament, has not appeared for the West Indies since 2019 when the team played against India.
The 33-year-old pace bowler, who has been playing for Trinidad and Tobago Red Force in the West Indies Championship, was not named among the 15-man squad for the first Test or Presidents XI. His omission is, however, due to sustaining a hamstring injury.
“Shannon was injured in the game that he played in Trinidad. We were told by the medical panel that he is having a bit of a problem with his hamstring and would not be fit for selection,” Haynes told members of the media on Wednesday.
“Shannon did very well against England the last tour here. He’s probably our fastest bowler and we are hoping to get him fit so that he can be on the park."
Overall Gabriel has taken 37 wickets against England in 11 matches and took 5 for 25 and overall figures of 9 for 137 when he face England in 2020. The English went on to win the series 2-1. Concerns have been raised over the player’s workload in recent times after the fast bowler has found himself sidelined by a few injuries.
The 42-year-old Gayle has found himself in the crosshairs of critics in recent months, with many insisting the player should have been overlooked in favour of younger talent. The batsman'ss recent form will not have helped matters. In the last year, Gayle has played a total of 16 matches, scored a total of 227 runs with an average of 17.46 and strike rate of 117.61, well down from his career average of 139.18.
Criticism of the batsman recently came to a head when he took exception to comments made by former fast bowler Curtly Ambrose who suggested that Gayle was not the same player he used to be. Pooran is, however, certain of the value the player brings to the team.
“As much as everyone has questioned it, 14,000 runs doesn’t come about just like that. Not many people know how to win T20 matches and T20 leagues and that sort of experience is invaluable,” Pooran told members of the media on Wednesday.
“The experience batting out in the middle, talking about intent, talking about taking on players when to go when not to go, you just don’t get experience like that,” he added.
“We are very happy to have him, even off the pitch he is someone who supports you 100 percent, someone who backs you 100 percent. You talk about positivity, he is one of the most positive guys we have on the team, in the Caribbean.
“He’s a special human being. Only when you play cricket with him or against him you’d know what it feels like to have him around.”
Generally speaking, the 40-year-old Windies batting legend has dominated T20 cricket on a whole, scoring more runs (13,296), sixes (978) and 100s (22) than anyone else. Gayle has, however, reserved a special type of carnage-filled slugfest for the IPL.
In 125 matches, he has put up a staggering 4484 runs, which is sixth overall but with fewer matches than everyone above him except David Warner. When it comes to clearing the boundary at the Indian tournament, however, the big left-hander has no equal. Gayle’s 326 sixes put him 114 clear of second-place AB de Villiers. With such a prodigious talent to blast the long ball, it’s little wonder the West Indian commands the undying affection of a rabid fanbase.
“Gayle has lifted the IPL for a number of years,” Pietersen told the Uk-based Metro.
“He bats at the top of the order and has brought so much sexiness to the tournament and he has been very smart in the way he has approached his batting,” he added.
“He has seen off some of the good bowlers and against the one he thinks he can hit from Bangalore to Mumbai, he sends them all the way. ‘He creates so much excitement and he has an aura around him when you see him.”
Gayle also currently holds the record for most IPL sixes and the highest individual score in T20 with 175 off 66 balls, which was set at the tournament in 2013.
Singh, who retired from cricket in June of last year, achieved the feat in 2007 in a league-stage match of the inaugural T20 World Cup when he clobbered Stuart Broad.
The India legend achieved the feat on the biggest stage, but six other cricketers have also managed the achievement. West Indian legend Gary Sobers, Ravi Shastri of India, Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa, Ross Vitali of England, Hazratullah Zazai of Afghanistan, and Leo Carter of New Zealand.
Despite being 41, Gayle still fancies his chances of becoming the eighth player to do so. Based on his recent performances at this season's IPL, one wouldn’t bet against it. It was at the IPL this season that Gayle became the first player to get to 1000 sixes in T20 cricket. The big left-hander went close to the feat in 2016 when he hit five sixes in an over off Sulieman Benn in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
"It’s very much possible to hit six sixes. So, if six is possible and Yuvraj has done it before so why can’t I do it? Yes, you, I anybody can do that,” Gayle told the Hindustan Times.
The politician in question Charles Ramson Jr, a member of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), reportedly endorsed and shared a claim made during a meeting in Albertown, Georgetown in January. The claim stated Gayle had been promised US$50,000 by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) for a visit to Linden late last year and was still trying to get the money, which was owed to him.
The West Indian star was spotted in Linden last year with officials of the PNCR. The opening batsman who was in the country for a cricket match and to celebrate his 40th birthday was quick to dismiss any political motive or links to the appearance. Gayle pointed out that the visit had simply been part of a community outreach program.
In a letter dated February 4 Gayle’s attorney Roysdale Forde gave the politician 24 hours to retract the statements, which were referred to as “defamatory” and totally “false.” The letter went on to state that the claims also seem calculated to subject [Gayle] to ridicule and portray him as being paid by a political party in Guyana to engage in work on its behalf.”
“As you are aware my client is an internationally recognized personality and cricketer and has carefully protected his brand and reputation especially by refusing to engage in public relations activities at the request of political parties,” the letter states, before adding that Gayle has engaged in a number of business ventures in Guyana, such as the promotion of a number of entertainment events, branded on his personality and persons in Guyana,” the letter read.
“Your statements are injurious to the financial success of these events and by extension necessarily to the said business undertaking of my client in Guyana and worldwide,” the letter concluded.
The 42-year-old has played in the world’s premier T20 tournament for the past 13 seasons, where he has played a total of 142 matches since making his debut in 2009. Gayle has represented the Punjab Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
After experiencing inconsistent playing time during the last edition, for Punjab, and leaving the tournament early to prepare for the T20 World, questions had been raised regarding the player’s future.
The batsman has been one of the league’s most iconic players and is its seventh-highest runs scorer, having scored 4,965 runs at an average of 39.72 and with a strike rate of 148.96. Gayle tops the list with the most centuries (6) and also holds the record for hitting the highest number of sixes (357). The West Indian has, however, never managed to win a title.
On the back of a disappointing World Cup, Gayle was expected to retire from international cricket but has registered to play for Fortune Barishal in this year’s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The BPL got underway yesterday, but Gayle is not expected to join the squad until later in the season.
The IPL’s release did not specify the nature of the offense but it in all likelihood it was due to an outburst of anger the player displayed after being dismissed during the match. Gayle admitted to the Level 1 offence 2.2 of the IPL's Code of Conduct and accepted the sanction.
The release read: "Chris Gayle, the Kings XI Punjab batsman, has been fined 10 percent of his match-fee for breaching the Dream 11 Indian Premier League's (IPL) Code of Conduct during his team's match against Rajasthan Royals at Abu Dhabi."
Gayle smashed a whirlwind 99 from 63 balls, on a historic day that also included the batsman being the first player to get to 1000 T20 sixes. His crowning moment was somewhat ruined by another West Indian, England bowler Jofra Archer, who dismissed the batsman with the very next ball.
An irate Gayle, who narrowly missed out on scoring a 7th IPL century, swung his bat in frustration before congratulating Archer and leaving the pitch. He became the only player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to miss a century by a single run on two occasions.
Gayle smacked an enterprising 53 from 45 balls, a total that included five big sixes, as KXIP snapped a five-game losing streak for only the team’s second win of the season.
Surprisingly, prior to this point, Gayle has been a spectator with Punjab losing six of its first seven games. The batsman had been tipped to return to the line-up last week but suffered from a case of food poisoning.
Last season, Gayle was the team’s second-highest runs-scorer with 490, with a high score of 99 and an average of 40.83.
"It is good to get a win. Chris coming back to the side gives a lot of energy to the team. The mood in the camp was always high even we were losing,” Ashwin told. Indiatvnews.
“We did not lose our spirit; we know that we are playing good cricket and it is just getting over the line. Really happy that we won a game and it is about repeating it game after game," he added.
Ashwin ended with figures of 2 for 23. KXIP will next play Mumbai Indians on Sunday, but firmly lodged at the bottom of the standings will have their work cut out to get to the playoffs.
Singh and Gayle crafted a crucial 100 run partnership, which led KXIP to an 8 wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday and temporarily lifted the team into the playoff spots after finding themselves rooted to the bottom of the table just two weeks prior. The win, the team’s fifth in a row, has coincided with the return of the veteran batsman Gayle to the line-up. The West Indian had found himself sitting on the bench for the team’s first 7 games, where they struggled to a 1-7 start.
Since coming into the line-up Gayle has scored 177 runs, including two half-centuries, and has brought a sense of energy to the team.
“Chris makes the game so easy, I told him ‘you should never retire’,” Singh said in a post-match interview.
“I’ve been lucky to play with the likes of Chris Gayle, AB, Gilchrist, Virat Kohli. I started out with Chris in 2010… I’ve been fortunate to know him as a friend. He’s so humble, he is so down to earth. Like I said, he should never retire. He is always in great touch. I have never seen him struggle. He is probably the greatest T20 player of all time," he added.
A quick look at some of the stats does buttress Singh’s claims. Gayle has scored the most runs in T20 cricket (13,296), has the highest score (175), most sixes in an innings (18), and the fastest 100. He has also hit the most fours with 1,026. With 993 sixes, Gayle is just 7 away from a record 1000.
In typically flamboyant style, Gayle welcomed his countryman to the team with a short march and salute. The celebration style has been made popular by the fast bowler who treats fans to the salute every time that he takes a wicket.
The 31-year-old former soldier was bought for a whopping INR 8.5 crore ($US1,156,239) by Punjab during the IPL 2020 auction. The player joined the IPL after taking part in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). It was not smooth sailing for Kings XI on debut. Chasing 158, Kings XI needed 13 from the last over bowled by Australia Marcus Stoinis. Mayank Agarwal started the over with a six followed by a couple and a four, thereby equalling the score.
Now, the KL Rahul-led side required just one run to win off three balls. But in a significant twist, Punjab failed to score. The game went to the Super Over where DC successfully defeated KXIP. Gayle was also not a part of the team picked for the opener.
Kings XI narrowly missed out on securing an Indian Premier League (IPL) playoff spot after finishing 6th in the overall standings. The team, however, got plenty of plaudits for an improbable run, which saw it win five games in a row after getting off to a 1-6 start.
Kings XI’s rapid ascent from the bottom of the table was fueled by the re-introduction of Gayle into the line-up. The West Indian had been left on the bench for the first seven games of the season. He was not picked for the first five, with a bout of food poisoning ruling him out for the next two. Gayle fired immediately once he was inserted into the line-up, ending with 288 runs at an average of 44.14 and a high score of 99.
“The team management did what it thought was best for the team. It is important to back experienced players and Gayle has demonstrated that he should play every game next season,” Wadia told the Press Trust of India (PTI).
The owner also had high praise for team captain and leading scorer KL Rahul, suggesting that some of Kings XI’s struggles could be based on the fact that it is a newly assembled unit.
“It’s a new captain, new team with lots of fresh faces, sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn’t. The auction is coming up soon and we would be looking to plug gaps in the middle order and our bowling,” Wadia said.
“K L has been with is for three years and there was a reason we went after him so aggressively. He has proved us right.”
The 41-year-old may have had cause for concern after reports suggested that he attended the celebrity-filled birthday party of sprint star Usain Bolt last week. Bolt tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday.
"Couple days ago. 1st COVID-19 test...Before travel I need 2 negative test," Gayle's Instagram feed read. In another post, he wrote, "The last one went a bit too far in my nose. Phew. Result was negative."
"I'm going to stay home for 2020... not gonna travel again...nah sah! Tan a mi yard!! Keep the change! Excuse me!" he added.
The player will, however, be subject to more testing once he arrives in the UAE, where the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be staged this year.
On arrival, Gayle will receive a test at the airport, followed by six days of isolation. During that period, he will be tested on days one, three and five. Players and all personnel that will be part of this year’s competition must be cleared before they can enter the biosecure bubble. Gayle had been expected to take part in this season’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL), where he would have represented the St Lucia Zouks, but opted out of the competition.
Gayle, who has scored a total of 7214 runs in 104 Test matches, with a high score of 333, is no stranger to the format. The player last set foot in the Test area six years ago but has not lost the affinity for the grueling nature of the longest format.
It is of little surprise that Gayle recently added his voice to the throng of players and former players that have come out strongly against the possibility of reducing five-day Test matches to four-dayers. The topic is expected to be discussed by the ICC over the next few months.
“I am not a fan of that (four-day Tests). I played 100 Tests, I mean a few finished in three days, a few in four but five days Test cricket is the ultimate and to have a four-day Test…I am not a big fan of that,” Gayle said.
“It has set the trend and it’s been there for ages so why go and mess with that. If they give other players a chance to experience that, it can be a life-changing experience to play five-day cricket. It is a mental state so that you can cope in life as well,” said Gayle.
Indian captain Virat Kohli, South African skipper Faf du Plessis, English captain Joe Root and Indian great Sachin Tendulkar are among the other players to have spoken out in opposition to the change.
