Gayle fitness call in the morning

West Indies captain Jason Holder says a decision on Chris Gayle’s (in pic) fitness for Saturday’s  quarter-final will be left to the morning of the match.

Gayle missed the final pool match against the United Arab Emirates on Sunday due to a back injury which required a pain-killing injection, and did not train with his teammates until Friday.

“Chris is out playing this morning,” Holder said Friday. “He’s had an injection, nothing major. We’ll see how he pulls up today and make a decision tomorrow morning,” he said on the eve of the match. Gayle, whose 215 against Zimbabwe is the highest score at the tournament, brings the experience of 268 one-day internationals to the West Indies side.

“Well, obviously Chris’s stats speak for themselves. He is one of the most feared batsmen in world cricket. So to have Chris on the squad is a plus for anybody. So to have him there, just his presence, is something. “Having said that, we won the last game without him, so I can’t say we can’t win without him, you knowIJ Obviously he has been a very good player for us over the years. But it has been shown that we have got people to fit the bill. We have got Johnson Charles who came in the last game and he got a half-century and looked the part,” he added.

New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said his team had prepared for the match in anticipation of Gayle being fit to play.  “I don’t think it changes things too much because we expected him to play anyway,” McCullum said.