Gayle out of final Test after surgery

After the ailment caused him to retire briefly during the West Indies’ first innings of the Second Test in Hobart last Thursday, Gayle stated that, based on the advice of doctors, he was hoping to have the surgery done at the end of the tour, which is just over a week away.

Yet as the rest of the squad, minus Marlon Samuels, headed to Adelaide on Tuesday afternoon for the final Test, beginning tomorrow (tonight Caribbean time), Gayle travelled to the Victorian capital to have the surgery done to repair a defect that has occasionally caused him to suffer bouts of dizziness and nausea while playing for the West Indies. Samuels had departed the team hotel earlier on Tuesday for Sydney at the start of the long journey back to Jamaica to rest his injured knee for at least the next two weeks. Professor Jonathan Kalman performed the surgery on Gayle at the Melbourne Private Hospital. He was to stay overnight for observation and was expected to be discharged today. Given that he will be recuperating from the procedure, he will not be allowed to travel for another five days and will stay at a hotel in Melbourne before beginning the journey home.

A veteran of 54 Tests in which he has compiled 3,569 runs at an average of 38.79, Gayle is not the first West Indian to undergo surgery to a major organ during a tour.

On the 1988 tour of England, another opening batsman, Trinidadian Phil Simmons, needed emergency brain surgery to save his life after being struck by a bouncer from Gloucestershire and England fast bowler David Lawrence.

The absence of both Gayle and Samuels means that Wavell Hinds and Dwayne Smith are their obvious replacements for the final Test at Adelaide Oval.