West Indies could be without their main man for the must-win match against the UAE on Sunday, with Chris Gayle a major doubt for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 clash in Napier.
Gayle has not been at his absolute best in this CWC, but he did catch fire against Zimbabwe, striking an outrageous 215 to show he still has plenty of magic left in him.
The West Indies have to beat the UAE, preferably by a big margin, to stand a chance of making it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup from Pool B, with their losses to Ireland, South Africa and India costing them dear.
The presence of Gayle in the side would have given West Indies a little more confidence of garnering that big win to boost their net run rate, but coach Stuart Williams hinted at the left-hander missing out on the clash owing to a back injury, a problem he has struggled with quite often.
"We'd love him to play all the games, but we'll just have to manage him better," said Williams while revealing Gayle stayed back in the hotel to speed up his recovery from the injury as his teammates trained.
Williams is hopeful of picking up the desired margin of victory to make it to the quarterfinals. West Indies, in order to make it, will need a little help in the second game on Sunday, either from Ireland or Pakistan.
"In reality it's better to have (bad results) earlier than now," added Williams. "Sometimes it's up and sometimes it's down so we've just got to get the balance right, whether it's batting, bowling or fielding.
"Our destiny is ahead of us. For a few days our future is in our own hands and on Sunday we'll know exactly what we'll have to do to qualify."
Williams is also confident of causing an upset or two if they do qualify for the quarterfinals, with West Indies set to take on New Zealand in the last-eight if they qualify.
"Right now we don't have a choice," he said. "We can only finish fourth. So once we qualify, nobody will want to play the West Indies.
"On our day we will beat anyone in this tournament and our men will be ready for that."
