Ankle injury scare for Gayle

The sight of captain Chris Gayle using the aid of a runner has become worryingly familiar for West Indies - and it recurred on Wednesday just a week before the first Test against England at Lord's.

Gayle was limping between wickets on his way to 40 off 37 balls for the Kolkata Knight Riders against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in his latest IPL match in Durban when he called for a runner, the Australian Brad Hodge who had been dismissed a few overs earlier.

Andrew Leipus, the Kolkata physiotherapist, reported that the problem was an ankle injury that "could be fine one minute and painful the next". But he assured that it should not prevent him leading West Indies at Lord's in the first of the two Tests in the series come Wednesday.

Gayle later bowled 3.5 overs of his allocated four overs, including the last off which Bangalore scored 10 runs to clinch victory by five wickets. Kolkata, bottom of the eight teams after the loss, have their next match against the Mumbai Indians in East London on Friday.

Gayle and fast bowler Fidel Edwards, who is with the Deccan Chargers team, are then expected to join the West Indies team in England on Sunday.

Four times in the past year-and-a-half, injuries have forced Gayle to miss matches for the West Indies. Gayle tore his right hamstring muscle sprinting through for a single to raise his hundred in the fifth Test against England at the Queen's Park Oval five weeks ago but returned 12 days later to play in all five ODIs.

Prior to that, he has come back more than once before fully recovering and the latest injury would have to be very serious for him to miss a vital match in defence of the Wisden Trophy, reclaimed in the recent home series after a gap of nine years. Gayle gained a US $800,000 contract with Kolkata for the inaugural IPL season last year but was unable to play because of a groin strain sustained in the third ODI against Sri Lanka in St.Lucia a week earlier.

He has played in all six matches for Kolkata so far but the Test series in England means he, like Edwards, misses the second half of the tournament. Both will receive some compensation payment from the West Indies Cricket Board for consequent loss of earnings.

Allrounder Dwayne Bravo, whose Mumbai Indians lost to the King XI Punjab in the second of the IPL matches on Wednesday, will complete his US $220,000 contract before joining the West Indies for the three ODIs in England May 21, 24 and 26.

The WICB's medical panel ruled that Bravo's left ankle had not recovered sufficiently from an operation last year for him to play in the five-day Tests. But it passed him for the shorter forms in the IPL and the ODIs.