Chris Gayle lights up Endeavour Hills exhibition match despite cloud of police probe linked to club

With that, security people jumped into action, clearing a path for a black Mercedes-Benz as it eased through the gates at Shepley Oval in Dandenong on Sunday afternoon.

The car was for ‘VIP transfers’ and it was directed to the back of the grandstand.

West Indies great Chris Gayle was inside it, along with Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik, and they were in Melbourne to play the first of two exhibition Twenty20 matches for Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association club Endeavour Hills.

They had arrived in town early last Friday, just as media was starting to report that a man had been charged with alleged theft and deception from a Mulgrave company.

The man, 35, from Doncaster, is associated with Endeavour Hills.

Police said funds were allegedly stolen between March 2021 and July 2022 and that the money was allegedly put into the man’s business, “which sourced and paid for 10 high-profile international cricket players to participate in local district cricket competitions in Melbourne’s south-east.’’

It put uncertainty over the first fixture, against Queensland Premier club side Western Suburbs.

Despite the police statement, Endeavour Hills took the view that it was a matter between the man and Victoria police, and declared both matches would go ahead.

It was “business as usual’’, it said.

And so at 2.19pm on Sunday, Gayle, now 43, and Malik, 40, were driven from their hotel in Southbank to Shepley Oval, to play alongside fellow internationals Dimuth Karunaratne, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne, as well as English first-class pair Jack Taylor and Luke Procter.

With the match starting at 3pm, Gayle quickly made his way on to the ground for a look at the wicket and to have a warm-up hit.

Stalwart Endeavour Hills player Chris Pereira walked over to introduce himself.

“Another Chris,’’ Gayle smiled.

Club officials presented him with a cap and there was a team photo before he opened the Endeavour Hills innings with Dilshan.

With No. 333 on the back of his shirt, Gayle patted his first ball back down the wicket.

An edge to third man brought him his first run, but his second scoring shot had far more authority; effortlessly and powerfully, he lifted the ball into the gum trees over the fence at the mid-wicket boundary.

It was the first of his 6 sixes in an innings of 95 not out off 65 balls that lifted Endeavour Hills to 4-167.

One of his sixes landed among the ‘VIP guests’ on the balcony of the social club, where it was caught with one hand and with impressive nonchalance by Aaron Zwart, 39. His other hand cradled a cold beer.

Of the other batters, Taylor played a rousing knock of 41 off 25 balls, but Dilshan (5), Karunaratne (5) and Malik (4) missed out.

Gayle was on 85 when the last over came, but, despite some lusty swinging, he fell five runs short of a century.

He took in warm applause for his knock and at the innings break joined revellers taking in a set from DJ Havana Brown.

Phones were picked from pockets to record this Gayle tale.

It turned out the Hills needed a few more runs; against a Hills team thick with batting but thin for bowling, the visitors chased down their target three wickets down, led by former Queensland Shield player Steve Paulsen’s 74 not out and Steve McGuffin’s 46.

The pity was that there wasn’t more people at the ground to watch the T20.

Endeavour Hills had said about 1000 tickets were purchased before the day, but the club was disappointed by the number of walk-ups and the eventual crowd.

“We were expecting a lot more,” president Arun Rajendran said.

“We had some bad publicity on Friday that hurt us.

“Hopefully, all going well, we should be OK next week.”

Rajendran said the club was pleased with its organisation of the event.

As for Gayle, “He’s a gun player, mate.”

Police were out in force – there looked to be enough members at the ground to deal with a city riot – and there were plenty of green-jacketed security officials, presumably leaving the club with a hefty wages bill.

For its part, Western Suburbs said it was happy to go ahead with the match.

The team flew down after its grade game on Saturday, arriving at a Monash hotel about midnight.

“The guys were keen to play,” team manager Daniel Maroske said before the toss.

“They’re pretty excited to be here, to be honest. There are a lot of names in the opposition that they don’t see every day in Queensland.”

For winning, Western Suburbs will receive $10,000 courtesy of a match sponsor.