VINODE MAMCHAN
(Bridgetown, Barbados)
The "Universe Boss" Chris Gayle sent balls flying all over Kensington Oval in Barbados yesterday as he scored his 24th One-Day International (ODI) century (135) in the first match of the Colonial Medical Insurance Cup.
The brutal left-hander bided his time like a lion waiting to pounce and then as soon as England bowlers grew tired, he ripped them apart with sixes all over the ground. A number of times the third umpire had to bring a box of balls unto the playing arena because Gayle had struck the ball so hard that it disappeared out of the ground.
He clobbered 12 sixes and lost four balls, as they never came back into the playing arena. His number of sixes was the most by a West Indian in ODI innings in the Caribbean, beating T&T's Denesh Ramdin's record of 11 set against Bangladesh in 2014 at Warner Park in St Kitts.
Gayle, 39, spurred the Windies to their highest score against England in ODIs. The Caribbean team bettered the 356 for 5 against the Englishmen in 2017 at the Oval in London. This total also eclipsed the Windies' best at Kensington Oval which was 312 for four against Sri Lanka in 2003. The effort was also the best by the Windies in the Caribbean, beating the 338/7 against Bangladesh at Warner Park in St Kitts in 2014.
The 360/7 was also the joint third highest score by the regional team. The highest being 372 for two against Zimbabwe at the 2015 ICC World Cup at Canberra, Australia. In this innings, the Windies created a world record by hitting the most sixes in an innings 23. This got past the 22 made by New Zealand against the Windies in 2014 at Queenstown, New Zealand.
An analysis of his performance shows that as an old Rolls Royce he took a while to warm up but when he hit the road, it was smooth driving. Out of the 129 balls he faced, 65 were dot balls and those came before he reached 50 runs. He took 76 balls to reach his half-century and needed only another 24 to score another 50 to reach 100 off 100 balls.
Knowing full well that he possesses the ability to up the rate, Gayle was able to play cat and mouse with the English in the early. The "Universe Boss" has sent a clear message to the world that he is looking to take Windies to the World Cup as a confident bunch.
Batsman*Bowler*Runs*Balls
Chris Gayle*B Stokes*135
**50*76
**100*100
*C Woakes*9*15
*M Wood*17*24
*M Ali*46*34
*L Plunkett*30*14
*B Stokes*12*21
*A Rashid*21*21