MANCHESTER: West Indies captain Jason Holder has backed the returning Chris Gayle to make a big impact in the One-day International series against England starting this week as the two-time World Cup winners bid for direct qualification.

Tuesday’s fixture at Old Trafford, the first of a five-match ODI series, is set to be powerhouse opening batsman Gayle’s first at this level since the 2015 World Cup — where he made the first double century in the competition’s history, smashing a blistering 215 against Zimbabwe in Canberra.

A protracted dispute with Cricket West Indies chiefs kept the 37-year-old Jamaica left-hander on the sidelines of the international game for more than two years.

But he returned to Twenty20 International action on his home ground of Sabina Park, Kingston, in July.

And he showed he had lost none of his ability to score rapidly with a blazing 40 off 21 balls as World Twenty20 champions West Indies beat England by 21 runs in the lone Twenty20 of their tour at Chester-le-Street on Saturday.

Gayle has scored more than 9,000 runs, including 22 hundreds, in 269 ODIs at a strike rate of 85.11.

Holder welcomed his impending return to the ODI format by telling reporters at Old Trafford on Monday: “It’s obviously a huge boost. The calibre of player Chris is, you can expect really good things from him.

“He showed some form in the T20 game and had some good form in our CPL [Caribbean Premier League] competition recently concluded.

“I’m really looking forward to having him back. He seems up for the challenge, he seems upbeat and really happy to be back. I’m looking forward to good things from Chris.”

Holder, not in the Twenty20 squad after leading West Indies in a 2-1 Test series loss to England earlier in the tour, said his side could take some confidence from a win at Chester-le-Street, where they overcame cold and wet conditions to record a convincing victory over England in a repeat of last year’s World Twenty20 final in Kolkata.

“That [Saturday’s] result should give is a bit of momentum, albeit a T20 game,” said Holder. “We are professional athletes, we know what to expect here in English conditions. A few of the guys have played here before, a few played the T20 game coming into this one.”

The Barbados all-rounder added: “From all reports it was difficult in Durham with the wet outfield but it’s something we’ve grown to expect and you’ve just got to adapt and adjust to it.”

West Indies will need to win the upcoming series either 5-0 or 4-0 with a tie or a no-result if they are to gain direct entry into the 2019 World Cup in England.

A failure to do so would mean West Indies, the 1975 and 1979 World Cup winners, cannot overtake Sri Lanka, currently eighth in the ODI rankings.

Only the top seven sides, apart from hosts England, currently fourth, as of Sept 30 will qualify directly for the 50-over showpiece event in 2019.

Teams that do not gain direct entry will get another shot through a qualifying tournament.

“The guys are up for the challenge. We’ve obviously got some new faces coming back into the side and it’s exciting times for our cricket,” said Holder. “We are still at a stage where we are looking to rebuild and hopefully these guys coming back can bring a lot of experience and expertise to what we are doing.”

England, meanwhile, have decided to retain Jonny Bairstow as opener, skipper Eoin Morgan announced.

Tuesday’s fixture is England’s first ODI since their Champions Trophy semi-final defeat by eventual tournament winners Pakistan in Cardiff in June.

That match saw regular ODI opener Jason Roy dropped after a run of low scores, with Bairstow making 43 after being brought in at the top of the order.

Roy was out for a golden duck in Saturday’s T20 Inter­national against West Indies and Morgan confirmed Test wicket-keeper Bair­stow would open the innings.

“Jonny is going to open with Alex Hales,” Morgan told reporters. “We feel Jonny deserves a chance. He’s been waiting in the wings for quite a while now. This is an opportunity to make the opening position his.”

Bairstow’s innings was one of the few crumbs of comfort England could take from a convincing eight-wicket defeat by Pakistan at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

England won 3-0 in a limited overs series in the Caribbean in March and were 2-1 victors on home soil in a recent Test campaign against West Indies.

But neither of those contests featured the likes of star batsmen Gayle and Marlon Samuels, now back in the fold.

“They’re a strong outfit, [and] obviously have some additions, changes from the Test team — so they’re not a side we take lightly,” said Morgan. “A lot of our focus over the last couple of years has been on ourselves. I think to make that extra step, learning on from the Champions Trophy, this series for us is about producing consistent performances.”

Teams (from):

ENGLAND: Jonny Bairstow, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Jake Ball, Tom Curran, Jason Roy.

WEST INDIES: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Marlon Samuels, Jason Mohammed, Shai Hope, Jason Holder (captain), Sunil Ambris, Rovman Powell, Kyle Hope, Jerome Taylor, Ashley Nurse, Kesrick Williams, Alzarri Joseph, Devendra Bishoo, Miguel Cummins.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017