Cricket World Cup: West Indies v Zimbabwe preview

Chris Gayle has been backed to come good for West Indies in Tuesday’s pivotal World Cup Pool B match against Zimbabwe at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.

The Windies opening batsman managed a scratchy 36 from 65 balls in the defeat to Ireland and scored only four in Saturday's 150-run win over Pakistan.

The 35-year-old has not scored a one-day century in 19 innings, his last coming in mid-2013, and his form has been a major talking point in the Caribbean, especially after West Indies Cricket Board president Dave Cameron re-tweeted a post on Twitter suggesting Gayle should be given a “retirement package”.

However, West Indies captain Jason Holder remains confident that Gayle can make his mark in the World Cup.

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He said: "Chris is awake. I can assure you he's awake. He was awake from the beginning of the tournament.

"Every time I see Chris Gayle, I expect to see one Chris Gayle, and that's a positive Chris Gayle.

"Although he hasn't been getting runs, we still have a lot of confidence in him. I just hope that he can come on Monday and just get us in and just take it as deep as possible for us.”

West Indies' top order has failed in both their World Cup matches, but the team has still posted 300-run scores due to the efforts of the middle order.

Room for improvement

"I think we still have room for improvement," added fast bowler Holder.

"If we can get a few more contributions going deeper into the innings in terms of the top order, I think we can get close to 350 plus, and I think that is not beyond us because of our firepower in the middle and the end.

"I'm very confident going forward into this game. I think what is important is that we keep this momentum that we have going."

Jonathan Carter is expected to be drafted into the top order in place of Darren Bravo, who suffered a hamstring injury in the victory over Pakistan.

Zimbabwe have lost their last seven matches against West Indies but batsman Hamilton Masakadza believes they can spring a surprise under the guile of coach Dav Whatmore.

Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to the 1996 World Cup title and has also been in charge of Bangladesh and Pakistan, was only appointed six weeks before the World Cup.

However, Masakadza says he has made an immediate impact on the team who opened their campaign with a creditable performance in a 62-run defeat to South Africa before beating United Arab Emirates by four wickets.

Big impact

Although he hasn't been getting runs, we still have a lot of confidence in him.

"The coach has had a very big impact for us. He's changed a couple of things and he's really got the guys going in a certain direction, and that's been working really well for us," Masakadza said.

"I think the atmosphere within the team has been really good now. The guys are really working hard and the guys are very focused.

"I think it's going to be really important to start off well (against West Indies), both with our batting and our bowling, because I think their top order is very dangerous.

"We mustn't let them get away from us too quickly, and similarly, the batting, Pakistan were four down early, and you can't really recover from a position like that.

"We just have to make sure that we start early, both with bat and with ball.

"They've had a bit of a mixed tournament so far, so we just come along with our plans, planning for them to be on top of their game and being able to deal with them being on top of their game.

"Chris Gayle is a good player. We all know that. He hasn't really got runs so far.

"But we have our plans against him and have our plans against all the different batters, and hopefully we fire up front and get a few wickets early."

Watch West Indies v Zimbabwe live on Sky Cricket World Cup from 3am on Tuesday.