Chris Gayle is hoping to cash in on his defamation case with Fairfax Media after the West Indies cricketer announced bidding for his tell-all story will begin at $420,000.
Gayle is seeking to sell details of the recent court case to the highest bidder, with a promise to potential buyers that what went on behind the scenes was “like a movie”.
Gayle won his case against Fairfax, which published a series of articles in 2016 alleging he exposed his penis to a masseuse, at the supreme court in Sydney last month. In a series of posts on Twitter, the 38-year-old former Test captain suggested there was an agenda against him before and after the court appearance, and a move to get him banned from cricket.
“I have a very interested successful story to tell,” he wrote. “It can be an exclusive 60mins interview or y’all just have to wait on my next book!
“It’s about what transpired in court and behind the scenes in Australia, how they went to bigger heads to get me ban.
“How they want to use me as a scapegoat over a interview – I’ll tell you what I do every day after court, believe me, when I break this down to y’all it will be like a movie.”
Gayle added that there would be “no holding back” and that he had “so much to say”.
Gayle was accused by the masseuse, Leanne Russell, of pulling his towel down to expose himself in the change rooms at Drummoyne Oval in 2015.
The jury at the supreme court took less than two hours to find the articles published were untrue.
Gayle, who captained the West Indies Test team between 2007 and 2010 and is known for his big-hitting and aggressive style of batting, sued Fairfax for the articles which he said were untrue and had damaged his reputation.
“Even what transpired in the mediation couple weeks before court ... they take me lightly but I never scared of the media!” Gayle wrote on Friday. “I was ready to fight until my last breath! Who ready for my story just let me know.”
Gayle, one of the most explosive batsmen the game has seen, holds a number of records across all forms of the game, including being the only player in the world to have scored a triple hundred in Test cricket, a double hundred in an ODI and a century in a T20 international.
He has scored 15 Test centuries and is one of just four players to have hit two triple centuries at that level, but it is in limited overs cricket where he has forged a reputation as one of the best to have played the game.
He was the first player to reach 200 in a World Cup game and became the first player to score a T20 World Cup century. He also shares the record for the fastest half century in T20 cricket – achieved in just 12 balls.
In total he has hit 18 T20 centuries, marking him out as one of the most destructive batsmen in the business and making him one of the most sought-after players on the nomadic T20 circuit.
Gayle has plied his trade in a number of T20 competitions, including Australia’s Big Bash League, the T20 Blast in England and the Indian Premier League.
– theguardian
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