He has 22 T20 hundreds to his name – 14 more than anyone else – and is still one of the most destructive openers in the world, more than 20 years on from his international debut.

However, almost as famous as his ability to clear the rope is his laidback attitude. On the most recent episode of the Cricket Badger Podcast, Mark Cosgrove, a former teammate of Gayle at Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League (BBL), explained how Gayle’s relaxed philosophy regarding training attendance forced the squad to change the time of its sessions to guarantee Gayle’s presence.

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“We had him at Sydney Thunder for a couple of years and he was really good,” said Cosgrove. “He was awesome to be around and his laid back attitude was quite funny at some stages…we had to train in the afternoon because every time we would train in the morning, he would just sleep so we changed our training to the afternoon so he’d train with us.”

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Gayle’s laissez-faire approach to training may well have had a negative effect on the squad. Sydney Thunder came last in both of Gayle’s seasons at the club. In the 2012/13 season, they lost all eight of their games.