Chris Gayle has his own opinion and it’s his right to express it, but I’m not too sure about the timing of it, just before a crucial Test match to save the series. Let’s hope it will have a positive effect on his players. Sometimes it can be a bit of reverse psychology as well, you say a certain thing as captain and it makes the opposition look at you in a different way and disrupts them. There has already been a reaction from Andrew Strauss, which is probably what Gayle wanted.

As far as Test cricket is concerned, he’s obviously a bit tired of it and has had enough of captaincy. Initially he didn’t want the job – he’s a pretty laid back guy and likes to take it easy, and the pressure of being captain, not necessarily on the field but all of the other things off it is one of his major concerns. He obviously needs a lot of time for himself, which he doesn’t get as captain. I can attest to that. My batting deteriorated after I became captain, and one of the reasons was that I didn’t have enough time to focus on my game or put in the type of personal practice and training that I was accustomed to. I empathise with him a little where that is concerned, but he’s got to look at himself as well, and if he’s not comfortable with the job, then there is nothing wrong in expressing that and people have got to respect that.

I think it’s important to always try to promote the game of Test cricket, because it is vital to the continued development of all forms of the game. Even though some players are more suited to the shorter version, every player should aspire to play Test cricket – that is the real cricket, the real Test. Even though we understand the importance of Twenty20 and the shorter forms of the game, we should always look forward to Test cricket, it is the ultimate and everything should be done to preserve this format of the game.

If Gayle were to give up the job I would probably go back to Ramnaresh Sarwan, if he wants it, for a period of time. Chanderpaul had it for a while but Sarwan has always been one of my favourites as captain of West Indies. If he is not comfortable I wouldn’t have a problem giving it to young Denesh Ramdin, he has shown tremendous potential as a cricketer. He has captained in a one-day match and seemed to do ok. He seems a calm guy and it is obvious that the selectors see some potential in him.

Gayle also made reference to the older generations of West Indian cricketers not understanding how hard it was to lose. In the past we have played in losing teams, but probably we have not lost as much as the current team or in the way that they are losing. You have to expect to be criticised when you are not doing well. Nothing is wrong with criticism – I was criticised a hell of a lot and I liked it because it helped me. At the same time, you don’t want to jump on a bandwagon to be knocking, knocking, knocking – you’ve got to look to encourage and look at the positives as well, if we keep knocking them they are going to go into a cocoon and think they are useless and never improve. As West Indians we have to criticise properly and constructively, and help the players as much as possible.

We also need to look at what the real problems are – why is it that our players are not playing well? These are questions that we have to ask. I know that there is something wrong with the structure of the administration of our cricket, and it is affecting our players. If you don’t get things right administratively then things are not going to be right for the players. It is a little bit unfair to criticise the players totally.

Gayle can still rally West Indies in Durham – you may have thoughts and feelings but when you go out there you still have to focus on the job in hand. I have not been around the team but I get the feeling that they want to bounce back, and that is evident in the stuff that Chris Gayle has been saying. I think that we will see much more fight in Durham – they have a lot of pride in what they do and will not want to lose 2-0.

Richie Richardson is writing weekly for thewisdencricketer.com for the duration of the West Indies tour of England in association with the Antigua Tourist Board