All eyes will be on Chris Gayle when the West Indies face Zimbabwe in the ICC Cricket World Cup tomorrow.

The opener has scored only 41 runs in four innings since arriving in Australia for the tournament and is without a ton in 20 matches, having made only four runs in Saturday's victory over Pakistan.

His performance in that match sparked fresh controversy as West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dave Cameron retweeted a fan who demanded Gayle be given a "retirement package" due to his ongoing poor performances.

The West Indies Players Association (WIPA), no stranger to disputes with the WICB, has stepped in to demand an explanation from Cameron, who later deleted the post and apologised.

The situation does little to ease the pressure on Gayle, who made 36 in the opening loss to Ireland, but had only one run from two outings in warm-up games against England and Scotland.

However, Andre Russell has backed Gayle to come good, and insisted he remains a positive force in the dressing room.

"From the warm-up games Chris has been struggling and we're still scoring 300 runs and he's not giving us those big performances, even Marlon Samuels, who is one of our main batters as well," Russell said.

"So, I just think when these guys peak at the right time, West Indies has the ability to score over 350. They have been good in the dressing room ... the way they keep motivating the team and the team spirit is very good.

"Chris is not moody. Chris is just an amazing guy that you share the changing room with. Even now he's not scoring and he's not miserable, he's not grumpy.

"He's happy, he's laughing, and he's cheering everyone on the field, and that's what we want from a big guy like him, so it's very good."

Zimbabwe come into the match on the back of a four-wicket win over United Arab Emirates, having lost their opener against South Africa by 62 runs.