Windies wilt when Gayle a law unto himself

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CHRIS Gayle may be the most important individual at the World Cup in the sense that no team needs their main man to fire as desperately as the West Indies do.

Without the charismatic left-hander bringing his explosive talent, vast experience and intimidating matchwinning potential to bear, it is difficult to see the troubled islanders making any meaningful impact.

But already its not happening.

Against Ireland, Gayle wasn't quite the dead loss he had been during the warm-up games and before that during a one-day series against South Africa, but his 36 off 65 balls was a non-event that did nothing to avert the ensuing embarrassment.

It's not in the scorebook but just before the Irishmen hit the winning runs he misfielded a simple ground ball, giving the impression — fairly or not — his head was already back in the bar.

Even the best cricketers can't be expected to dominate day in and day out on demand — witness England captain Eoin Morgan's two runs in his last five knocks — but Gayle seems to be in a permanent state of rebellion, boredom and disrespect for the game that has made him rich and famous.

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Scorer of two Test triple centuries and more than 10,000 one-day runs in a long and hugely entertaining career, he can certainly bat like few others, but his capacity for causing problems is well-honed too.

Most recently, he has been railing against the selectors for dropping former captain Dwane Bravo and Kieron Pollard, two senior players involved in last year's damaging walkout from a tour of India.

Gayle says the "ridiculous" decision amounts to victimisation.

He has been a law to himself since arriving in Australia, partying in Sydney nightclubs and avoiding a commitment to do a press conference, where the media manager then opted to ban questions about him being put to rookie captain Jason Holder.

The sporting mantra that no individual is bigger than any team doesn't seem to apply.

Coming off ODI scores of 41, 19, 1 and 0 in South Africa, Gayle then made 0 and 1 in warm-ups against England and Scotland. Both ducks were first ball and he has now gone 18 ODI innings without a century.

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Commentator Tony Cozier, the voice of West Indies cricket, has spelt out how crucial it was for Gayle to lead the way on and off the field.

"His influence in the dressing room is as significant as his intimidation of bowlers," Cozier wrote on ESPN Cricinfo before the Ireland debacle.

"Younger players regard Gayle's ability to devastate opposing attacks with awe. As such, he remains the talisman of a team languishing at No 8 in the ICC rankings and short of self-belief."

Cozier said Gayle, 35 — "fully focused on parading his talent for the last time on a global stage" — should be not only a buccaneering opening batsman but a motivator and adviser, especially to Holder, 23, the World Cup's youngest and least experienced captain.

"No professional cricketer can be satisfied with such a slump, no matter how distressed he is over a matter outside his control. Perhaps the thrill of the World Cup will rekindle his desire," Cozier wrote.

Legendary old hands such as selection chief Clive Lloyd and team manager Richie Richardson _ not to mention Holder — can only hope so.

ron.reed@news.com.au

Twitter: @Reedrw

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Red’s Markovic gets four-game ban

Lazar Markovic will miss four games. Source: Valerio Pennicino / Getty Images

LIVERPOOL'S Serbian winger Lazar Markovic has been given a four-match ban from European competition.

The suspension follows his sending-off for a flailing arm at Behrang Safari in the Reds' final Champions League group game against FC Basel in December.

UEFA handed Markovic an extra game on top of the normal three-match ban for violent conduct because he was sent off playing for Benfica in a Europa League match last May.

Tottenham Hotspur's English defender Danny Rose (R) cuts across to try to tackle Liverpool's Serbian midfielder Lazar Markovic (L). Picture: AFP Source: AFP

He had already been substituted in the Europa League semi-final against Juventus but was red-carded by English referee Mark Clattenburg for his part in a touchline fracas.

Markovic reacted to the ban on Twitter with a post that simply read: "4?"

Liverpool failed to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League, instead dropping into the Europa League last 32, in which they will face Besiktas.

The first leg against the Turkish side will be at Anfield on Thursday.

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Wests Tigers caught in hepatitis scare

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THREE senior Wests Tigers players will be tested for hepatitis A after consuming what they believe were the same contaminated Chinese-grown berries linked to Australia's superbug outbreak.

The Tigers trio came forward after club doctor Peter Lorentzos briefed the entire playing squad about the impact of the infection prior to a training and community visit at Campbelltown on Tuesday.

Under the guidance of Wests Tigers high physical performance manager Corey Bocking and his consultant Keegan Smith, the majority of the Tigers players have committed to a strict gluten-free, clean-living diet regimen since last October.

TAYLOR TO GAMBLE ON TIGER CUBS

TIGERS WANT TO RETURN TO FINALS FOOTY

Jason Taylor during Wests Tigers pre-season training. Source: News Corp Australia

The diet features smoothies and health shakes, which includes the use of frozen berries.

Victorian company Patties foods have recalled at least two of their frozen mixed berries products, including Nannas and Creative Gourmet, amid fears they are contaminated with hepatitis A.

Having come forward of their own accord, the three Tigers players were provided with a referral for an appointment with their local GP, where they will be tested for any possible infection.

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Aware of the food scandal which has forced the removal of frozen berries from supermarket shelves, Wests Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer said it would be naive of the club not to take the matter seriously.

Todd Greenberg with Tigers boss Grant Mayer. Source: News Limited

"As soon as the club were aware of it and the players put their hands up and said "we believe we've eaten these berries" the club doctor issued referrals for the boys to get tested,'' Mayer said.

"From a duty of care point-of-view the club has taken this very seriously with the view of that the players are treated appropriately.''

Tigers coach Jason Taylor said he saw no sign of illness or condition from the three players who were subjected to the recalled berries and that tests were required merely "as part of a process.''

"The doctor spoke to the guys about the brands of berries which have been recalled and how we'll handle that going forward,'' Taylor said.

West's Tigers players go in hard during an open training session. Source: News Corp Australia

"We were having a meeting before training and the doctor wanted to talk to the players about it because a couple of the boys had said they may have eaten the berries.

"So the doctor briefed the group about what hep A is and how it works. It was all very straight forward.

"Now they'll get a test, like anyone else would.''

Taylor said he was hopeful that three players would be available for the club's final trial match against Cronulla at Campbelltown on Saturday night.

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Western Sydney league fans robbed

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THE NRL has robbed Parramatta and Penrith fans of one of western Sydney's biggest rugby league derbies — by scheduling the game nearly 4000km away in the Northern Territory.

As the two powerhouse clubs round out their pre-seasons with a trial at Penrith's Pepper Stadium on Saturday night, their fans will have to travel a lot further if they want to see the grudge match in round 22.

Parramatta are in the second year of a four-year-agreement with the Northern Territory government to play one game in Darwin each year.

Eels chief executive Scott Seward on Tuesday night said while he had nominated their round 22 'home' fixture — scheduled for the weekend of August 8-9 — to be played up north, it was the NRL who decided to draw them against Penrith.

It's a slap in the face for the supporters who live in the game's spiritual heartland.

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The Eels would have preferred to play a team like Canberra, whom they met last year, or Melbourne, another club not used to stifling heat.

An NRL spokesman said Parramatta did have the option to submit an alternative weekend, and Eels officials didn't seem too concerned when informed Penrith would be the team sent north.

"If you had asked me to nominate three clubs we wanted to play, Penrith wouldn't have been on that list," Seward told The Daily Telegraph.

NRL TEAMS FOR WEEKEND GAMES

"It was important we got the weekend we got because it suited the NT Government and it suited us. That was the most important thing.

"We nominated the dates to play a game in Darwin, but it was the NRL who scheduled who we played.

"Would it have been the game I'd take up there? Probably not, but it certainly wouldn't have been off-limits to us."

Stars like Josh Mansour and Chris Sandow won't get to clash in a Sydney stadium for a local derby in 2015. Source: News Corp Australia

Seward said despite the long rivalry with the Panthers, the derbies often pulled a mediocre crowd at Parramatta, compared to the good roll-ups at the foot of the mountains.

Last year's game attracted just 14,500, less than the attendance for matches against Souths, the Roosters, Manly, Newcastle and St George Illawarra.

However, TIO Stadium in Darwin has a capacity of around 10,000, and the local juniors in Parramatta and Penrith won't get the chance to see their local heroes.

The NRL's oversight gives the AFL a free hit, with the GWS Giants scheduled to play Essendon at Spotless Stadium that same weekend. Essendon have one of the biggest supporter bases in the game.

The Western Sydney Wanderers have refused to take their local A-League derby with Sydney FC up the road to ANZ Stadium, let alone entertain shifting their big duels interstate.

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Carney out to show Jets axe was wrong

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FORMER Socceroo David Carney will take his case against the Newcastle Jets to a hearing on Friday that will determine whether club owner Nathan Tinkler has to pay him more than $300,000 to leave the club.

Though Carney was contacted by the Wanderers about a short-term deal to play in the Asian Champions League, he remains focused only on proving that Tinkler acted illegally in sacking him publicly on the basis of a private phone call between the two.

With Carney's position at the Jets apparently untenable after falling out with coach Phil Stubbins, the Jets will have to pay him out in full for the season and a half left on his contract if he wins the case.

Carney is expected to argue that his dismissal was illegal as the Jets cited three breaches of the code of conduct — when four are required under it for a player to be sacked.

He will also claim that a private phone call — in which Tinkler alleges Carney brought the club into disrepute by badmouthing the coach — can't be a disciplinary matter as it wasn't in the public domain.

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An FFA-appointed arbiter will hear Friday's case, with the verdict binding on both parties.

If Carney wins his case he will be allowed to sign for another A-League team as an injury replacement player, guest or marquee player.

Meanwhile Sydney FC striker Bernie Ibini insists his team have the belief to be title contenders, after coach Graham Arnold called on his team to appreciate how good it could be.

Arnold exhorted his players to use last Saturday's 3-3 draw with second-placed Melbourne Victory as a springboard for the remainder of the season, but Ibini said the belief was there — what was needed was demonstrating that on the pitch.

"All of us are pretty confident in each other and the team — maybe we have to show it more," he said. "I don't think it's something we need to think about or analyse; it's more about demonstrating it. When we do dominate games we have to put games away as well.

David Carney will argue Nathan Tinkler acted illegally in sacking him publicly on the basis of a private phone call between the two. Source: Getty Images

"As a group we set ourselves some fairly high standards so we're disappointed we didn't get the win against Melbourne.

"It was a tough game against a great opposition — Victory are probably the benchmark in the league. Their attacking line-up, their front four, is just awesome and you have someone like Archie Thompson on the bench.

"So in the end we'll take the point but we're not happy either. What it showed is that consistency throughout the game is the main thing that we need to find throughout the rest of the season.

"We played 20-25 minutes of great football and then all of a sudden we're down 2-1. Finding that sort of consistency is what we need to be a real threat in the title race."

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Cruelty kills greyhound industry’s credibility

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As a party trick a friend — let's call him Jerry — used to screen what seemed at the time an amusing series of greyhound race videos.

''Watch the No. 8,'' he would say as the pink dog shot out of the box like a rocket and screamed around the track, the only danger being its momentum was so great it would miss the turn and slide off the track.

The punchline was this greyhound-turned-canine missile had been administered cocaine. ''Sunglasses and Panama hat and he would have been right at home in Hollywood,'' Jerry would say.

Rightly — in everyone's estimation including his own — Jerry was banned from training for ten years. Not because the stewards were immediately concerned about his dogs' treatment, but because Jerry bet too much. The welfare of the bookmaker rather than the greyhound was paramount.

The greyhound industry is reeling from the scandal of live baiting. Source: Supplied

Even 20 years ago watching Jerry's dishlicker videos seemed like viewing surveillance tape of an ancient underworld killing. It might not speak well of human nature. But there is something titillating about revisiting the seedier side of the past with the smug certainty provided by a brighter, cleaner world.

Now? After the gruesome footage of live baiting shown on Four Corners it is apparent greyhound racing's famously murky past is actually its abhorrent present.

Anyone faintly involved with greyhounds knew about live baiting. The long-held notion of the older-timers that a ''a dog needs to have a kill to chase'' was discussed — at least by the innocents — the way you might consider the use of leeches to cleanse the blood. Surely no one was still performing this barbaric ritual where dogs would rip apart animals limb for limb?

This is partly why the gruesome reality of the Four Corners footage was so disturbing. This was a practice so grotesque that, surely, it could only be part of the sport's medieval past.

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Images of small animals suffering agonising deaths revolted anyone with a skerrick of decency. Yet hundreds, perhaps thousands of greyhound trainers and owners will have spent the hours since the Four Corners expose considering — and trying to justify — their personal involvement in this primitive practice.

Inevitably the vested interests claimed live baiting was the work of a few rogues. But this notion was contradicted by the procession of owners who brought their dogs to tear apart rabbits, possums and piglets under the supervision of the barbarous track operators who revelled in their cruelty.

Taking a dog to be blooded seemed as routine for some as taking it to the vet to be inoculated. At least one owner thought watching a greyhound inflict a slow and painful death on a live animal was a great day out for the kids.

A screen grab from the shocking vision that aired on the ABC's Four Corners program about the illegal practice of live baiting. Source: Supplied

The same authorities allocated millions of dollars to police greyhound racing whined yesterday about their limited access to private property and other supposed obstacles. What the reason, if such institutionalised cruelty can happen under the noses of the watchdogs we can only assume it is rife throughout the industry until proven otherwise.

A desperate defence of the industry apologists was that only those winning regularly must be involved. But, of course, a significant proportion of the Tour de France peloton was doped up to its eyeballs. Not just cycling's top dog Lance Armstrong.

Greyhounds raced yesterday on nine Australian tracks from Gosford to Mandurah. Once you might have been impressed by these athletic canines whipping around the track. Now you wonder what dark initiation they have endured.

There was a strangely nostalgic tone to Jerry's video show because, you thought, you couldn't get away with that any more.

Now greyhound racing has lost all credibility. Keep the dogs in the kennel until the industries' scandalously shortsighted authorities clean up a mess that had to be exposed for them.

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