Gayle happy with the effort

The West Indies' captain Chris Gayle believes his side's display in the second Test against Australia should quell any talk of a lack of effort from his players.

Chris Gayle believes West Indies' display in the second Test against Australia should quell any talk of a lack of effort from his players. The tourists threatened to level the series in Adelaide only for Ricky Ponting's side to battle their way to a draw. Chasing 330 for an unlikely win, the hosts put the brakes on after slumping to 139 for five. An unbroken 73-run partnership between Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin rescued Australia but it was the Windies who emerged with the most credit. Gayle, whose side were widely criticised after a woeful innings defeat in the series opener in Brisbane, said: "We played some good quality cricket and it was just unfortunate we couldn't come out with a win. "Our effort can't be faulted, I must commend the players for the way they went about it."

Ponting admitted the final day had been a "slog" for his side. "We thought if we could get their innings over quickly, we had a good chance of scoring the runs. "It was a really hard slog for us today and throughout the game. They have bounced back the way you would expect an international team to bounce back. "It's been a hard-fought Test match for us. With the West Indies batting first and making 450 we knew we had to do a lot of things from that moment on in the game if we were going to win. "I wouldn't say it's disappointing, if you don't win it can be a little disappointing but you've got to give the West Indies some credit as well for the way they played this game, from early on they've really played some good cricket."

Meanwhile, the ICC admitted that Mark Benson's abrupt withdrawal after the first day of the Test was not entirely due to health reasons. It was reported that Benson left the Test after the first day after two of his decisions were overturned by the third umpire Asad Rauf as part of the new review system. The ICC's general manager, Dave Richard, and umpires performance manager, John Holder, called it as mixture of health reasons as well a result of the high-pressure job. "The reality is that now umpiring is so much more under the microscope. Maybe this job is not cut out for him," Holder said. "Imagine how it is. You have made a decision in good faith and you are having it overthrown in front of millions of people worldwide. Some people might find that humiliating. "The system is about eliminating mistakes, but if the umpire loses confidence when he is overruled then for that particular umpire it might have the opposite effect. It is my job to help restore that confidence." Richardson added: "What we can say without speaking to Mark himself is that he quit the Test for a combination of health and pressure problems. Coping with a very pressured job proved too much for him. "Whether or not he continues as an elite umpire is up to him." * Agencies