I'm Up To The Challenge - Chris Gayle

This is my first diary on tour and I am happy to be doing it again. On our arrival in England it's been a sticky and wet summer. Having said that we played the first game, a warm up game against Somerset at Taunton. Unfortunately we didn't get much cricket in, we only got a little more than half day in and a few of the guys got hits and got a feel of what it is like in the middle. This was obviously due to the very rainy weather. Runako (Morton) scored a hundred which is the first hundred on tour which is very good. The ever reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul also got in a good knock with a half century.

I am just a bit disappointed that we didn't get as much cricket as we had wanted to due to the weather. However we have no control over the weather. We have had to practice mainly by using the indoor facilities and that has been what we have been doing. Today was the first time we got a hit in outdoor practice, the guys finally got to do a lot of running around outside and get acclimatized.

In terms of preparation it is not what we would have ideally loved to achieve going into the first Test however we are capable of getting the job done and we are certainly looking forward to first Test.

We have to focus on the cricket and getting the job done against England by rallying around each other. From a personal point of view I was here for the last tour in 2004 and from what I have observed it is a totally different adjustment I have to make on this occasion leading into the first Test. There is going to be a lot of overcast conditions but I'm up to the challenge. Hopefully Daren Ganga and I will give the team a good start.

I am also looking forward to see Ramnaresh Sarwan do well at his first time as captain. Hopefully things will go well for him and the team and he gets a good start on the first day and we can take it from there.

The guys have all been in good spirits. Everybody is rallying around each other and working together. We will see how the first Test goes. Basically that's it for this entry until my next entry next week.