Chris Gayle is widely recognised as one of most laid-back players in international cricket.

His easy-going personality can be compared to the slower pace of life in the Caribbean, and makes him one of the most likeable players in the game.

At the risk of sounding cliched however, his relaxed demeanour mirrors the calm that comes before the storm, as he has often proven he can devastate the confidence of his opponents with his dashing batting.

His combativeness also came to the surface during a spirited contest against Australia at last year's ICC Champions Trophy, when he taunted and teased Michael Clarke into gifting his wicket and led West Indies to a memorable victory over the world champions.

Unfortunately, it was behaviour upon which the ICC's Code of Conduct frowns, and he landed himself in hot water with a stern rebuke and fine from the match referee.

The occasion of the Cricket World Cup being staged in the Caribbean for the first time is not lost on the 27-year-old left-hander, whose off-spin darts and reliable hands earned him the top ranking on the ICC's list of all-rounders in the limited-overs form of the game.

"We are at home for this World Cup for the first time and obviously everyone is looking forward to the event," he said.

"The World Cup is a big occasion as we all know and it is a big occasion not only for the players, but for the entire Caribbean. We want to win, it would be nice for us to be the first team to host World Cup and win it.

"It won't be a walkover. It will be tough opposition from the other teams and playing at home will be more pressure, but I am sure everyone will want to do well.

"The team has been playing good one day cricket over the past year and we need to improve on that to do well and hopefully everybody will be fit for the World Cup."

For West Indies to win though, they will want Gayle to come very near, repeat, or even surpass his performance at last year's ICC Champions Trophy in India, where he earned the Most Valuable Player award.

He was as close to perfect as he could come.

He hit three hundreds, including an undefeated 133 that contained 17 fours and three sixes in the semifinal against South Africa to guide the West Indies to their target with six overs to spare, and a place in the Final.

His remorseless, early assault on the Australians - Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath in particular - in the final of the Champions Trophy seemed to put West Indies on the road for a big score.

Gayle's dismissal however, to probably the best ball of the entire competition from Nathan Bracken was a blow from which West Indies could not recover and they were dismissed for a modest 138 in 30.4 overs which was cannon-fodder for Australia's formidable batting.

His performance at the Champions Trophy rocketed him to No. 2 in the batting in the world rankings, and it also helped to beef up his average which now hovers close to 40.

Gayle is one of only three batsmen (fellow West Indians Brian Lara and Sir Vivian Richards are the other two) to have three or more scores in excess of 150 in limited-overs internationals.

If there is one criticism of his game is his lack of footwork which makes him vulnerable to the swinging ball which Lee, Sri Lanka's Chaminda Vaas, and recently India's Ajit Agarkar have all exploited.

This hardly seems to matter though, when Gayle is on the rampage, and he wields his bat like a rapier and carves up bowling attacks.

If he can overcome this challenge the same way he has a minor heart surgery to correct a problem that in the past caused his heart to palpitate irregularly, bowlers at the World Cup are likely to get caught in the vortex of Hurricane Chris.

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)