World record breaking West Indies batsman Chris Gayle says that his team has a score to settle with South Africa, when they meet in their ICC World Cup clash at 11.30 pm (TT time) tonight at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia.
Gayle, who rewrote the record books with the highest score in One Day International (ODI) cricket against Zimbabwe, is itching to get back unto the Park against the South Africans. He scored a magnificent 215 against Zimbabwe, to lead his team to their second victory in Group B.
Speaking on the upcoming clash Gayle said: "I am really looking forward to the South Africa match, very keen indeed."
Asked what message he would like to send to the South Africans, Gayle laughed and said: "Probably a double 100.
"It will be good contest. We have been playing the South Africans regularly so we know their players and they know ours. We are playing on neutral venue and this is the World Cup. We start fresh after they beat us up on their home turf. We are looking to let our performances speak for themselves and go one up on them here at this tournament.
"We got a score to settle with them, they beat us badly in their hometown and hopefully we can get things going our way and beat them at the World Cup."
South Africa defeated the West Indies 4-1 in a recent limited overs series in South Africa leading into this World Cup.
The West Indies began their World Cup campaign in horrible fashion losing to Ireland by four wickets at Nelson in New Zealand. Three days later, they turned in a brilliant performance against Pakistan and then followed up with a record-breaking win over Zimbabwe. The team was greeted by rain on arrival in Sydney but it did not affect them, as there was no scheduled practice because of the travelling. Yesterday, they had first use of the Sydney training facilities and the South Africans used it in the afternoon.
South Africa will be coming into this match with their confidence dented, after easily going down to India in their previous match.
Faf du Plessis said that the South Africans are wary of Gayle.
"Unfortunate that Zimbabwe decided to bowl Chris Gayle into form. He is a very dangerous batsman, he is world class and one of the best. Although his one day average is not as good as his T20 average, he can still win you a match on his own.
"As a matter of fact the West Indies have a lot of match winners. We have played them a lot and knows them, which is good for us. However, they have got guys that just come in and play shots, so you get opportunities to get wickets but then they can get runs quickly."
Asked if South Africa will beat the West Indies, the middle order batsman said, "Should beat and would beat, I don't use anymore, any team can beat you on the day. What we did against them in South Africa means nothing, we have confidence because they were beaten badly but if they are taken for granted, they can beat you badly."
Teams:
West Indies: Jason Holder (capt), Marlon Samuels, Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Jonathan Carter, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Darren Sammy, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor and Nikita Miller.
South Africa: AB deVilliers (capt), Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, Dale Steyn, David Miller, Quinton de Kock, JP Duminy Morne Morkel, Aaron Phangiso, Farhan Behardian, Wayne Parnell, Imran Tahir, Kyle Abbott, Riley Rossouw and Vernon Philander.