Australian cricket legend Ian Chappell calls for worldwide ban of Chris Gayle

Ian Chappell has urged Cricket Australia to propose a worldwide contracting ban on West Indies batsman Chris Gayle. The 36-year-old Jamaican was recently fined $10,000 [£4,888] by his Big Bash League side Melbourne Renegades after his on-air remarks to pitch-side reporter Mel McLaughlin prompted a storm of controversy.

The powerful left-hander asked the sports presenter out on a date while she was trying to conduct an interview. Gayle subsequently apologised for any offence he caused, saying it was a "simple joke".

But Chappell thinks Cricket Australia needs to adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards Gayle's behaviour. "I wouldn't have a problem if Cricket Australia said to the clubs, 'He's never to be contracted again in this country'," Chappell said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

"And I also wouldn't have a problem if Cricket Australia said to the ICC, 'What we're doing should be worldwide'. You'd have to talk to the individual countries then ... but I wouldn't have a problem if it was tabled at an ICC meeting that Cricket Australia said, 'This is what we're doing and we would recommend that everybody else do the same'. How are you going to stop it otherwise?"

The former Australia captain also said Gayle was "past help probably now. If it was a one-off thing, yeah, slap him with a $10,000 fine and say, 'Mate, don't do it again'," he said. "But every woman I spoke to [about Gayle] who's working at the cricket, you got the same answer from. They were quite adamant about it."

Gayle will return to action for Melbourne Renegades on Saturday 9 January, when they take on Melbourne Stars at Etihad Stadium.