Mumbai: Swashbuckling opening batsman Chris Gayle smashed a sensational unbeaten century, laden with 11 towering sixes, to single-handedly take West Indies to a comprehensive six-wicket victory over England in their opening World T20 cricket match on Wednesday.
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England spinners Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, hampered more by the dew making the ball hard to grip, were at the receiving end of Gayle’s blitzkrieg with the latter suffering the ignominy of being hit for three consecutive sixes in an over in which he gave away 22 runs.
But Reece Topley was powerless to prevent England slumping to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of the West Indies in their group one opener.
After being sent into bat England posted a competitive score of 182-6 thanks in part to 48 from Joe Root but were ultimately undone by Gayle’s brutal knock. “It was the same feeling when we went to Sri Lanka and won it. This is a format we’re really confident in”.
– He becomes the only batsman to hit 10 sixes or more in a Twenty20 worldwide twice.
Steven Smith’s arrival did not change much for the Australians as the batsmen continued to take on the West Indies bowlers. Before I went out, Sulieman Benn said “entertain me”.
Willis feels that with McCullum now focusing on the domestic game Gayle is arguably the most destructive short-form player in world cricket – and that his team must be classed as a threat to the World T20 title.
Skipper Darren Sammy will hope to relive their 2012 triumph and in Marlon Samuels, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell he has players who are experienced T20 campaigners. By contrast West Indies have eight men over 30 to choose from in their squad.
Earlier, having been asked to bat first, Jason Roy and Alex Hales managed just five from the first two overs. West Indies, led by Darren Sammy, comes into the contest with a 5-4 advantage over England in head-to-head contests that includes a 3-3 record in World T20 encounters. They have done well in the two practice matches since their arrival in India however, with wins over New Zealand and the Mumbai Cricket Association team.
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The second wicket partnership was worth 55 off 40 balls when Benn came back for a second spell to castle Hales – who had slowed down after the arrival of Root – with England on 92 in the 12th over. It did not take long for Gayle to score the first half century of the tournament, taking just 27 balls as his innings began to accelerate.
