Chris Gayle and Co could return soon, as West Indies board close to striking deal with players

The long wait for high profile names in Windies cricket taking the field could come to an end soon as negotiations between players and the Cricket West Indies (CWI) seemed to have made noteworthy development. [caption id=“attachment_2681254” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Chris Gayle and Co could make a possible return to the national set-up. Getty[/caption] According to a report by ESPNCricinfo, CWI has come close to an agreement and the likes of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo could make a return to the national set-up. Darren Bravo, who has not played a single Test since his infamous tweet against board president Dave Cameron, has also agreed to delete that post to make a comeback. Windies’ upcoming assignment is an away tour to England. The Test team is making slow progress and had it not been for Shannon Gabriel’s false shot, they could have levelled their last home series, in April-May, against Pakistan. But their struggle in the 50-overs format has put them in the danger of not attaining direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup. With Jason Holder’s side ranked ninth in the ICC ODI rankings, the ODI series against Eoin Morgan and Co seems to be a last chance for Windies if they want to avoid playing the World Cup qualifiers. If they want to automatically qualify for the mega event, they would have to clean sweep England 5-0 if India beat Sri Lanka by 4-1. But if India whitewash the island nation, then Holder’s men would have to defeat Morgan and Co by 4-0 or better. In such a desperate situation, the possible return of heavyweights like Gayle, Pollard, Narine, Bravo would bolster the side’s prospects. Earlier, it was a must for the Windies players to play a significant part of regional cricket. But it is understood that the board has decided to do away with that hard stance. For many years, Windies cricket seemed to go nowhere, but this move will make many a cricket supporter in the Windies happy.