The middle order was a disaster, says Gayle

West Indies captain Chris Gayle, who top scored in the Third Digicel One Day International with 53, had some stinging words of criticism for his middle order batsmen who failed to capitalize on an opening stand of 86 in 17.4 overs.

"I thought myself and Xavier (Marshall who made 35) really started well this morning. The wicket was doing a bit early up but the middle order was a disaster for us again," Gayle said at the post match presentation ceremony.

"We set it up really well and they didn’t actually carry on," Gayle observed as his team made a modest 223 in 48 overs and lost by seven wickets as Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match Digicel ODI Series with two games to be played in St Kitts.

"We have done a lot of talks but that is not going to help us at this particular time. We need more action to be taken. It’s up to us as individuals to work out our game," said Gayle who had said that the batting in the Second Digicel ODI on Friday was a big disappointment. On that occasion, the West Indies capitulated to 58 for 6 before eventually getting to 140 for 8 as they chased 204 from 41 overs after a 55-minute rain interruption forced the use of the Duckworth/Lewis calculations to revise the total. Australia had made 213 for 5 from 50 overs on a difficult pitch.

"We can’t continue like this. It doesn’t look good. The outfield cricket doesn’t look good as well. We really need to pull our socks up," Gayle charged.

"We are looking forward to the two games (in St Kitts on July 4th and 6th). We still have a lot of pride to play for," the 28 year old left hander said.

Gayle said that with the opening stand of 86 the team was looking to achieve a score in the vicinity of 280 in order to ask the Australians to chase a competitive total. In the end the visitors cantered home, achieving victory in 40.3 overs with opener Shane Watson scoring 126 and captain Ricky Ponting scoring 69.

"With the start that we got we were basically looking at 280 but in the end we lost wickets and we didn’t even bat out the 50 overs, which was very disappointing as well," Gayle said.

When asked what would be done about the batting, the hard hitting Jamaican batsman hinted that he was looking forward to some strong punitive action from the West Indies selectors who will meet to select a squad for the final two Digicel ODIs. He said the squad will be announced later this evening or tomorrow and he is "looking to see what they come up with".

Senior players Shivnarine Chanderpaul and vice captain Ramnaresh Sarwan both got starts, getting to 32 and 31 respectively before getting out, while rookie batsman Andre Fletcher, playing his third ODI, made 12.

All rounder Dwayne Bravo made 7 but looked unlucky to be given out lbw to a delivery which struck him outside the line of off stump. Gayle did not mention any names but those four consist of the middle order along with wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin (21) and all rounder Darren Sammy who bats at number 8 and made three. (Caribbean Net News)