Chris Gayle, the flamboyant opening batsman, has scrapped his deal with Somerset, the English county team, to make himself available for West Indies after ending his year-long dispute with the cricket board.
Gayle has not been part of the West Indies team since his attack on the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) in a radio interview in April last year and was not picked in the Test squad for the three-match series against England starting next month.
The 32-year-old left-hander, currently playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is now eyeing a place in the three one-day internationals and a Twenty20 international that follow the England Tests.
"I have written to Somerset CC and advised them that I will not be honouring the commitment I made to them when I signed a contract with them for the 2012 Friends Provident Championship," Gayle said in a statement.
"I have now satisfied all of the requests of the WICB and their selection panel and to whom I reiterated previous assurances given to the board regarding my availability.
"So that there is no doubt, I confirmed to the selectors that I was available for West Indies duty in all forms of cricket, immediately following the conclusion of my contractual obligations to my IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore."
Gayle, who is a former West Indies captain, has scored 407 runs in the IPL so far this season although Bangalore are sixth in the nine-team championship table.
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