West Indies have fire power to be successful - Gayle

	Chris Gayle wants to dominate the 2011 World Cup © AFP Enlarge
Related Links Players/Officials: Chris Gayle Series/Tournaments: ICC Cricket World Cup Teams: West Indies

Chris Gayle has said he will treat the 2011 World Cup as his last and believes the West Indies have the "fire power" to emerge triumphant on the subcontinent.

"This is my third World Cup," he told reporters in Colombo. "I played in South Africa in 2003 and in the Caribbean four years ago. I don't know what the future holds and I don't want to sit back and wait for the next World Cup in four years time.

"I am sure we have the team to get the job done for the people of the Caribbean. We have the fire power - the bowling combinations are good, and we have good allrounders and quality in our batting."

How far the West Indies eventually go will depend in part on the starts the explosive Gayle can provide his team. Over the course of his career, the 31-year-old has amassed 7,917 runs at an average of 39 and a strike-rate of 83.74. He also boasts 19 ODI centuries, tied with Brian Lara for the most by a West Indian.

"The West Indies have a legacy of winning and I want to give my best to win matches for us," Gayle said. "Whenever I cross that boundary rope I won't leave anything on the field. I'm going to give it my all, give it my best shot. I am looking to try and dominate the World Cup,"

The team have had a patchy lead-up go the tournament. Their five match-ODI series in Sri Lanka was first postponed due to bad weather, then shrunk to three matches, one of which was, again, rained out. They also haven't won an ODI against a Test team since beating India in June 2009, but Gayle said they will take it one game at a time while targeting a quarter-final place as a preliminary goal.

"We will look to build strength from the early stages and develop as we move along. It won't be an easy task but it has to be done and we as players have to do it."

He expects the pitches to favour the batsmen and that the proliferation of Twenty20 cricket means most teams "are learning much better how to execute - especially in the Powerplay overs. Ultimately we will have to just wait and see what happens, and as I said before, the team which does the better job on the day will win."