Gayle 'reserved and scared'

International cricketer Chris Gayle became "very reserved and scared" in public around women after Fairfax published reports alleging he exposed himself to a female massage therapist in a Sydney dressing room, a court heard yesterday.

The West Indies player is suing Fairfax Media for defamation over a series of articles published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times between January 6 and January 9 last year that alleged he exposed himself to a team massage therapist during the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

A character reference for Gayle told a court allegations of the cricketer exposing himself to a massage therapist 'affected him a lot'.

The woman at the centre of the stories, massage therapist Leanne Russell, gave evidence in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday that she "cried uncontrollably" after the incident during the Cricket World Cup on February 11, 2015.

Gayle then gave evidence on Monday that the incident did not happen and "this is one case I have to fight".

Gayle's long-time friend, UK-based cricket coach Donovan Miller, gave character evidence for the cricketer on Thursday.

He said that since Fairfax had published the articles Gayle had become "very reserved and scared" in public places such as bars, "especially [around] females".

When the exposure claims were first aired “we all thought this was a joke ... not serious”, Miller told the court.

Since then, Gayle had become very “reserved and scared, especially [around] females and he always feels someone is out to get him”.

“You can see the incident has affected him,” Miller said. “When you look in his eyes you can see he is really hurting about it.”

The evidence in the trial concluded on Thursday and Fairfax Media's barrister, Matthew Collins, QC, delivered his closing address to the jury.

The jury is expected to begin their deliberations on Friday, after Mr McClintock finishes his closing address and Justice Lucy McCallum delivers her summing up.