Windies batsman awarded damages

WEST Indies batsman Chris Gayle has been awarded £173,000 in damages more than a year after winning a defamation case against Australian publisher Fairfax Media.

Articles published in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times reported allegations the 39-year-old had exposed himself to a female massage therapist.

A jury in Sydney in October 2017 ruled the claims were not true and that their publication by Fairfax Media was motivated by malice.

Gayle’s legal team argued that Fairfax journalists wanted to “destroy” the cricketer.

New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum made the award.