Former Barbados and West Indies opening batsman Philo Wallace has expressed that Chris Gayle should no longer harbour thoughts of representing the regional side.

Wallace, who is currently involved in broadcasting, weighed in on the matter after watching the West Indies romp to an easy victory this week, in their two-match T20 series against host Sri Lanka.

The Jamaican, who has opened the batting for the West Indies in all formats of the game for many years, has not played for the regional team in the shortest format of the game for the past year. His last T20 match was on March 8, 2019 versus England.

Wallace has observed that since that time, Lendl Simmons who recently returned to the team, as well as Evin Lewis and Brandon King, have been getting the job done.

“Gayle is 40 years old now, he doesn’t move around as swiftly as he used to and I think there is enough depth now in the team that they can move forward without a Chris Gayle,” said Wallace. He was speaking on a local radio show, the Calvin Alkins Delivery of the Day with Barry Wilkinson, in Barbados.

“The point is that the opening spots are sealed and the young men are performing, so he (Gayle) finds himself pretty hard to get into the side, to be honest,” Wallace added.

Gayle was scheduled to take part in Nepal’s Everest T20 league but the competition was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

He has ambitions of representing the West Indies in this year’s T20 World Cup where they are the defending champions.

“I respect Chris’ record but if you are preparing as a defending champion to win a World Cup, then you should be part of the process leading up to the production. Chris hasn’t played for whatever reason, so look, I would stick with this team, add (Sunil) Narine and the Windies look really strong,” Wallace concluded.