Gayle calls for concentration

West Indies captain Chris Gayle has criticised his colleagues' attention spans in assessment of their troubles in England.

Gayle's men were comfortably dismissed 2-0 in both Test and one-day series by a rejuvenated England, who exploited their opponents' ill discipline in early-season conditions.

Although their official tour is over, West Indies remain here for the World Twenty20, which starts next week, and despite their failings have had more preparation than some of their tournament rivals.

"That could be an advantage for us and hopefully we can put that into play," said Gayle. "We can put this behind us and try to be ready for the T20s.

"I am not a schoolteacher. Everyone should try to take responsibility and try to learn as quickly as possible.

"It is a different format of the game ahead of us. It's the shorter version, so maybe we can concentrate a bit more.

"If concentration comes into play this will be better for us.

"We lapsed in the Test matches and one-day internationals but hopefully in the shorter version we will put up a better fight."

Gayle has shown his liking for the quick fix of 20 overs per side with the only hundred in an international to date while the majority of the team he leads in the coming fortnight were members of the Stanford Superstars, who thrashed England last November.

Despite such a result, however, a record of four wins and two ties in 11 Twenty20 internationals, has led Gayle to reason that West Indies are best suited to 50-over cricket.

And they are throwing themselves into a full-blown preparation for their Group C matches by attempting to arrange two extra practice matches - against Scotland and Ireland, tomorrow and on Saturday respectively, at Sir Paul Getty's ground at Wormsley.

That will help them practise 20-over-specific skills and Gayle also believes they have been taught some lessons on 50-over batting by England in the NatWest Series defeats in Bristol and at Edgbaston yesterday.

"From my point of view we should look at how England go about things batting-wise," Gayle reflected.

"If we can take a leaf out of their book on how they go about the start of their innings, and in that middle period when they build momentum by manipulating the ball around the field to pick up ones and twos, with the odd boundary, it will be useful for us."

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