Chris Gayle: ‘The fans urge me to stick around. That’s why I’m still playing’

The interview starts with an apology. “Sorry,” says Chris Gayle’s handler. “We might have to push this back a bit. Chris has had a really big few days, as you can see.” He waves his arm behind him. I’m wondering exactly what he’s gesturing at when I finally spot Gayle stretched out flat on a black sofa that so exactly matches his outfit (black shoes, black trousers, a black hoodie and a pair of big black sunglasses) that he is perfectly camouflaged by the cushions.

It’s three o’clock in the afternoon and he’s fast asleep. On a sofa. In a hotel lobby bar. While everyone else walks and talks around him. Cricket’s Disco King is taking a badly needed nap. We perch either side and try to carry on a conversation around him. A club sandwich arrives. The waiter puts it down by Gayle’s head. He lifts his neck, heaves a forkful to his mouth and lies back down again. “Hopefully it won’t be long now,” the handler offers.

Gayle is in the UK to promote a new app called Cricket All Rounders. It allows kids to watch short video demonstrations made by Gayle and a couple of other internationals and then compete to see who can best replicate the skills.

Gayle explains that he has spent the past few days on a jaunt around England. “I’ve been interacting with kids, taking photos, signing autographs,” he says. “Oh man, it’s been a lot of work. A lot of work.” We’ve moved to a dimly lit side room. He’s still wearing his sunglasses and I can’t tell if he’s joking.

I’m told we have 20 minutes. Which is barely enough for pleasantries, but on the other hand is also about as long as it took Gayle to score his fifty off 12 balls for the Melbourne Renegades in 2016. I tell him I was going to begin by listing his achievements, the hundred-odd Tests,