LONDON, England (CMC):

West Indies captain Chris Gayle arrived here early yesterday, just 48 hours before the opening Test against England amidst swirling concerns he will not be ready in time for the Lord's clash starting tomorrow.

The talismanic opener had been expected to join his squad on Sunday, but chose to remain with his Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League for Sunday's match.

The move, sanctioned by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), raised alarm among the Windies team management and coach John Dyson yesterday reiterated the danger the late arrival posed to adequate preparation.

"You get medical guys saying you need time to recover from flights, coaches saying you need time to practise and prepare properly for the series and players saying "we can handle not doing that". I suppose time will tell," Dyson said.

"The board gave him clearance until May 2, but then our board considered an extra day or two didn't matter, so that's that.

"Medical science says that everyone gets jet-lag. If your flying time is 10, 12 hours you probably need a couple of days to recover properly from the flight.

"Then you need a couple of nets and probably a practice game. That would be the minimum I would see as being ideal.

"I ideally would like more time. But we have to work with what's going and at the moment, that's what's going."

Warm-up games

Gayle was one of two West Indies players involved in the IPL in South Africa, with fast bowler Fidel Edwards having only joined the team on Sunday.

Both players missed the squad's three warm-up games and will enter the opening Test with just Twenty20 cricket behind them.

Dyson said the issue was one which needed further discussion.

"We all knew that the IPL was on and we knew that the players would be arriving when they have - late," said Dyson. "I suppose this is something the ICC will look at as time goes on."