GORDON WILLIAMS, Contributor

Chris Gayle - file

TORONTO, Canada

A famous American football coach once said: "If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries."

It's unlikely that West Indies cricket captain Chris Gayle knows Bill Parcells, but the two appear to share a similar philosophy.

Parcells, at the time, didn't like the players being chosen by his club for him to coach. Gayle was frustrated with the team selected for him to lead against the top ranked Australians in the home series earlier this year.

"Do you really want to experiment with a team like Australia?" the captain was quoted as saying. "If that's the case, it is going to be more difficult to beat them."

Sometime after that public outburst, Gayle resigned as captain. A new selection panel was appointed and Gayle changed his mind. This month he led the West Indies on a successful one-day international (ODI) tour of Canada. That squad featured fresh faces, such as all-rounder Brendan Nash and batsman Leon Johnson. It also included recalled wicketkeeper/batsman Carlton Baugh Jr. and relative newcomers Kemar Roach, Nikita Miller, Shawn Findlay and Sewnarine Chattergoon.

Concerns about safety

That mix, it seemed, as the West Indies prepared for what they thought then would be next month's ICC Champions Trophy, suited the 28-year-old Gayle. He finally had the ingredients he wanted to cook up West Indies success.

"Yep, I'm pretty much satisfied," the big left-handed opener said last Friday, prior to learning that the Champions Trophy had been postponed due to concerns about safety in host nation Pakistan.

"I am happy with the squad that has been selected. We fancy our chances."

The West Indies swept aside lowly Canada (twice) and Bermuda in the tri-nation ODI series here. In the final, Gayle unfurled his own form, smashing an unbeaten 110, his 16th ODI century. Others, like Xavier Marshall, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Jerome Taylor, Johnson, Miller and Nash stepped up in the series as well.

Yet overall Gayle's record as captain has been mild. The West Indies have won less than half the five Tests and 17 ODIs in which he has led them. They were scheduled to face Australia, India and Pakistan in Champions Trophy group play. Now no one knows how the current squad, which would have been joined by Shivnarine Chanderpaul, would have fared against those top-flight teams, especially Australia, which beat the West Indies soundly, both in Tests and ODIs, recently.

It was Australia's ODI domination that led to Gayle's questioning selectors Clyde Butts, Gordon Greenidge and Andy Roberts. He complained there were "a lot of things happening" without his knowledge regarding team selection.

Belligerent batting style

Now Gayle, known for his cool temperament but belligerent batting style, says for the good of the team he is willing to mend fences with Guyanese Butts, a holdover from the old panel, and new selectors, Jamaican Robert Haynes and Trinidadian Raphick Jumadeen.

"It's a fresh start with the selectors," Gayle explained here. "I've known Clyde Butts, the chairman, and Robert Haynes. Getting ready to know Jumadeen.

"I'm sure we'll have discussions and so on," he added, "and, like I said, build relationships so that things can be much easier, rather than a battle. You know what I mean?"

Haynes declined to discuss details of Gayle's relationship with the last panel. But the former West Indies player said he too is ready to defuse any tension between selectors and captain. It's time, he explained, to move on.

"I can't really dwell much on what has happened in the past," said Haynes, who travelled with the team to Canada." Our job right now is to look at the future and the development of West Indies cricket and see how best we can get these players to tick."

Cohesion between players and selectors will become a primary focus, Haynes added. He is offering an open line of communication. Gayle, while not promising perfection, is planning to take advantage. He insisted that returning the West Indies to winning ways takes priority.

"The selection panel is quite different," the captain said. "But at the same time we're getting to know each other.

"You know, we're gonna have agreements, we're going to have disagreements. That's a basic thing for selecting a team. We'll just have to see how we can come up with the best formula for the best format of the team and so on; the best balance of the team."

And, for his sake, the best recipe for success.

Gordon Williams is a Jamaican journalist based in the United States.

West Indies selector Robert Haynes - file