Magical Gayle hammers Aussies
Chris Gayle's 88 off 50 balls thrilled the 18,000 Oval crowd
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Saturday, 06, Jun 2009 10:34
A vintage display from West Indies captain Chris Gayle guided his side to a seven-wicket victory over Australia in their opening match of the World Twenty20 writes inthenews.co.uk's Alistair Potter at the Oval.
Gayle ran the Aussies ragged, pelting 12 boundaries - six fours and six sixes - in his 88, which came off just 50 balls before he was caught by Shane Watson in the deep.
The highlight of his innings was undoubtedly a mammoth over that saw him fire three maximums in a six-ball spell off Brett Lee in the early stages.
Lee later salvaged some pride by taking his wicket, but the damage had already been done as the Windies surpassed their 170-run target with more than four overs to spare.
An explosive start from Jerome Taylor set the tone, as he had the Australians on the ropes within the first over.
Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting both went for ducks - the latter being trapped lbw from his first delivery faced - before Michael Clarke (two) was lost to Fidel Edwards to leave them on 15-3.
Watson's fellow opener David Warner (63) and number five Brad Haddin (24) began the rebuilding job with a 50-run partnership.
The Hussey brothers, David (27) and Mike (28 not out), also made good contributions lower down the order as the baggy green fought back to post 169-7 from their 20 overs.
But it was left to Gayle to steal the headlines as he took it upon himself to slog every bowler to all corners of the ground.
Opening partner Andre Fletcher (53) played his part too, recording a half-century of his own as he provided the perfect foil to his thundering partner until he was caught by David Hussey.
The highlights were almost exclusively Gayle's, though.
Lee's third over - the fifth of the innings - went for 27 runs as the big-hitting opener struck three sixes and two fours including a couple of massive blows through mid-wicket.
And this proved to be just the tip of the iceberg, as the first five-over powerplay yielded ten fours and four sixes.
Gayle barely stopped for breath after that, however, and continued to torment the Australians with boundary after boundary - picking out the slower balls at will, with one going more than 100 metres onto the pavilion roof.
Only a good delivery from Lee ended Gayle's remarkable innings but with the realisation that the game was all but won made it a hollow victory for the paceman.
Ramnaresh Sarwan was left at the crease to finish the job, with an accomplished eight off two deliveries.
The result leaves Australia needing a win over Sri Lanka in their second group match to stand any chance of qualifying for the Super Eights.