The career of West Indies captain Chris Gayle

September 2000: Gayle's first senior tour to England at the age of 20 ends under a cloud as he is one of several younger players accused of showing “a lack of respect” to their seniors Photograph: Graham Chadwick/Getty Images

January 2004: Gayle blasts his way to a 79-ball hundred in the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Two months later, Gayle is spotted dancing in the stands following a 10-wicket loss to England in which West Indies were bowled out for 47. "The West Indian players would have made excellent limbo dancers," reports Trinidad's Daily Express. "There's just no limit to how low they can go." Photograph: Reuters

May 2005: Gayle scores a career-best 317 in the fourth Test in Antigua, the first ever triple century against South Africa, having been dropped for the first Test of the series Photograph: Gordon Brooks/AFP/Getty Images

29 July 2007: Gayle, pictured here in the fourth Test at the Riverside, has a spat with the WICB over the imposition of a curfew during the tour of England. The board sends him "a very strongly worded letter of reprimand” Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

November 2007: Gayle is appointed West Indies captain for the series against Sri Lanka Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP

February 2008: Gayle is bought by IPL-franchise Kolkata for $800,000 Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images

14 March 2008: Gayle falls out with the head of West Indies' umpires board after describing standards in a domestic match as "terrible for sports" and “really, really terrible” Photograph: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

1 November 2008: Having resigned as West Indies captain and then withdrawn his resignation, Gayle leads Stanford Superstars to a 10-wicket win over England and a combined team bounty of $20m. Gayle hits a 33-ball half-century and wins the match with a six off Andrew Flintoff. Asked what he is going to do with his $1m, Gayle says: "Spend it, man." Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images

May 2009: Gayle arrives in England two days before the first Test at Lord's. “Medical guys say you need time to recover from flights, coaches say you need practice and then you get players saying they can handle not doing that. I suppose time will tell," says coach John Dyson Photograph: Tom Jenkins