Bad weather looms over Chester-le-Street

Chris Gayle

The final Test is upon us now. I am looking forward to it even though the conditions here in Durham are not the best at the moment and not much cricket is expected for the first two days.

There is an expectation of showers and even thunderstorms but those things are out of our control and we have to remain focussed on cricket.

When you look at the last Test match at Old Trafford we showed some good fight and character. That was a very good sign for us coming into this game.

Darren Sammy, on debut, took seven wickets in the second innings to bring us right back into the game - a tremendous effort. It was really good considering that it was his first game. He came into the team and fitted in very neatly and nicely with everyone. We are hoping that he can continue from where he left off in his first Test match and make the best use of his opportunities.

In the batting department, with the team chasing 455 on the last two days at Old Trafford, Daren Ganga and myself did not manage to give the team a good foundation to build on but the other guys stepped up and put in a tremendous effort. Runako Morton and Devon Smith worked well together but the real standout performance was that of our most experienced batsman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

It is one of the best hundreds I have ever seen him play, not only because of the circumstances but also as it was a very difficult pitch to bat on. Shiv is leading with his experience and that was a truly stupendous performance from him. It was unfortunate that we fell short by 60 runs.

Even though we lost the game, we improved in many areas and we can all use that game as a motivating factor coming into this game.

It would be nice to end the Test series on a high note as we move into the one-day series. We hope to enjoy it even though the weather won’t be suitable throughout the match but as I mentioned before there is nothing we can do about that.