Gayle glad to be back for West Indies

West Indies opener Chris Gayle, left out of the first two Tests against Australia because of confusion over eligibility rules, said on Saturday he is glad to be back and that he had found new motivation.

Gayle made 71 in his return as he shared a first-wicket partnership of 139 with Devon Smith in the second Test against Australia.

"I'm not out to prove anything, all I want is to play cricket for the West Indies and represent the team," he said.

"When I was dropped, I used that to set myself some targets in these two Test matches," he said.

"I really trained hard and so far I'm pleased with myself."

The Jamaican was overlooked for the first Test after not making himself available for a domestic final against Barbados, which the West Indies Cricket Board said broke its eligibility rules.

The ruling was later questioned with some commentators claiming that Gayle, who replaced Wavell Hinds for the third Test, could have played and that the WICB had shot themselves in the foot.

Despite this, the 23-year-old was left out of the second Test as well.

"I was disappointed in the manner it was done but having said that I used it as motivation to come back into cricket," he said.

"I'm just glad to be back in the team."

Mystery illness hits Lara

Australia's path to a historic Caribbean whitewash could be blown open by another mystery illness to West Indies captain Brian Lara during the third Test.

Lara is unwell, but he and the Windies camp won't what's wrong.

Team officials could not deny rumours that the brilliant batsman might have contracted chicken pox, which kept teammate Jermaine Lawson out of the second Test.

Lara certainly wasn't his usual self when he made 14, batting at No.8 today, as the Windies crashed to 8-291 in their first innings -- still needing another 115 runs to reach the follow-on mark -- after three days at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.

The 34-year-old only arrived at the ground after the tea break and left after his 81-minute innings without any explanation about his condition.

"You've got to go to the team manager. I batted today and I will bat in the second innings," Lara said from his hotel room.

But team manager Ricky Skerritt added nothing: "I'm not the team doctor," he said. "I'm not going to talk about Lara."

A team media spokesman, who had said Lara "had the makings of the 'flu" when he briefly left the field, said the captain's health would be assessed again on Sunday.

Rain spoils opening day of Zimbabwe's tour

Zimbabwe made a low-key start to their controversial tour of England in their opening game against British Universities.

Only 38 overs were possible on day one of the four-day match before rain intervened at Edgbaston.

British Universities won the toss and elected to bat and were 92-2 when play was halted.

New South Wales bid to keep Mark Waugh

New South Wales cricket officials are holding high-level talks to keep Mark Waugh in the game for another season. Waugh hinted during the Pura Cup final in March that he may be about to retire.

However, NSW Cricket Association chief executive David Gilbert met with the former Test star's management late this week to talk him around.

Waugh's manager Leo Karis said further talks will take place this week.

"They are keen to see him go around again," Karis said. "They feel Mark has a lot to offer NSW cricket at first-class level and also with State cricket as a whole, assisting young players and helping with marketing."

Waugh had only a modest season for the Blues last season after retiring from international cricket following his axing from the Test side.

At one stage his place for NSW was in question, but he recovered to score 462 runs at an average of 35.53 as the Blues took out the Pura Cup and ING Cup double for the first time in a decade.