Windies captain labels Shane Watson 'soft'

Reuters

SOFT SIDE: West Indies cricket captain Chris Gayle has called Australian allrounder Shane Watson soft.

Relevant offers

Cricket

Clubs urged to accept Hagley redevelopment South Africans avoid Hagley embarrassment Haddin omission lacked clarity - players' chief Red-hot Cook inspires England to ODI win Approval for Hagley Oval from cricket officials Forgive Proteas' quake jitters - they turned up Prime job not enough to move McGlashan Kane Williamson should skip the short stuff Cricketers' first appeal - no 'big buildings' please Steve Waugh hits out at Ponting reappointment

West Indies captain Chris Gayle has labelled the Australian cricket team a pack of whingers and called all-rounder Shane Watson soft as the fallout from the recently completed three-Test series continues.

Gayle, named man of the series despite Australia's 2-0 triumph, claimed Ricky Ponting's men were the masters of sledging but couldn't handle the heat when a player returned serve.

''When they sledge and if you give it back to them, they whinge a lot,'' Gayle said in Perth yesterday. ''They can't handle it.''

But Gayle's outburst didn't stop there as his war of words with Watson took another ugly turn. Watson on Tuesday tried to play down his widely condemned celebrations after taking Gayle's wicket during the third Test at the WACA Ground, claiming the batsman had baited him in the lead-up to the dismissal.

Watson was fined 15 percent of his match fee for the incident but Gayle still wasn't inclined to let him off the hook, although he did deliver this barb with a smile.

''He said I bait him. You asked me the question earlier if I catch fish, maybe I might use him as a bait to catch a fish,'' Gayle said before his Twenty20 stint with WA. ''He's so easy to get wound up over silly things. Yeah, he's soft. He only looks big and strong but he's soft.''

Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said the West Indies master blaster was stuck in the past.

''We beat the West Indies, what, four days ago and Chris Gayle is still talking about it - he needs to get over it,'' Haddin said in Melbourne before Australia's three-Test series against Pakistan. ''I have nothing to say about Chris Gayle.''

But Haddin was apologetic for his run-in with West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn during Australia's 35-run win in Perth. Haddin and Mitchell Johnson were fined for their involvement in the mid-pitch stoush, while Benn was suspended for two one-day internationals.

''It wasn't a good look, probably, pointing my bat,'' Haddin said. ''It was probably a bit too animated for what the occasion was, so I apologised for that.''

Gayle believed Watson's over-the-top celebrations of his wicket weren't in the spirit of the game.

''What happened was that I was at the non-striker's end and he was just looking at me,'' Gayle explained. ''I asked him 'What's your problem, man?' and then I said, 'When you come on [to bowl] I'm going to take a swing at you.

''And then he got me out and came down screaming in my face. It wasn't called for, to be honest with you. But he's that sort of person. Whenever he gets hit for four he always gives batters talk, but when you give it back to them they can't actually take it.''

Gayle's comments followed his post-match criticism of the Australian when he said he didn't expect anything better from him.

- AAP