This storm in TV presenter Mel's life does not concern Chris Gayle

Mel McLaughlin speaks on stage during the Sydney FC 10th anniversary lunch in Sydney last March. Inset: Chris Gayle

Sydney: Mel McLaughlin, the sports reporter, who Jamaica's West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle flirted with recently during the Big Bash Twenty20 competition, has revealed a tragedy involving her sister.

Mel McLaughlin speaks on stage during the Sydney FC 10th anniversary lunch in Sydney last March. Inset: Chris Gayle. Pic/Getty Images

McLaughlin told the Herald Sun's Weekend that she has yet to get over the death of her elder sister Tara, who succumbed last year to a rare lung cancer from a genetic mutation despite not smoking. Tara (39) was a police officer and a mother
of two kids.

"I find it very hard to talk about. The cancer she had has such a disgusting rate of death," said in the newspaper's lift-out.
Gayle's infamous interview with McLaughlin in Hobart was splashed across the world all over the media after the big-hitting batsman said to her, "hopefully we can win this game and we can have a drink after. Don't blush, baby."

‘It was crazy'
She admitted being embarrassed by the publicity but had no problems with encountering Gayle in the future. "I kept my head down through all of that because it was crazy. It was just an interview. I can handle myself, I'm fine. Everyone seemed to have an opinion so I just went the other way.

"I know I'm on TV but I'm not about that at all. I'm not in it to be famous and the extra attention horrified me. I love what I do and I'm passionate about it and that's what's important. I'll come across (Gayle) again. It's work. There's no problem."

Though Gayle reckoned it was a "simple joke", he was fined $10,000 by his team Renegades and was guilty of "inappropriate conduct".