Free hit

CHRIS GAYLE has been granted special dispensation to accommodate his selection to the West Indies team for Twenty20 Internationals.
The big-hitting opening batsman, who recently returned to the Caribbean side following a prolonged dispute with the regional governing body, failed to meet the West Indies Cricket Board’s (WICB) selection criteria for the extra shorter form of the game.
It stemmed from his not making himself available for Jamaica during the 2012 Caribbean Twenty20 tournament from January 9 to 22 when he was turning out in Australia’s Big Bash Twenty20 league for Sydney Thunder.
Under the WICB’s selection criteria, “for a player to be eligible for selection to the West Indies Twenty20 squad the player must make himself available for selection to his territorial squad for the WICB Caribbean Twenty20 Tournament”.