Gayle the magnificent

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The West Indies have had the habit of throwing it away after promising starts and even the brilliance of Chris Gayle at times has got undone by the follies of his teammates. But the story was little different at the Kennington Oval on June 6 when they bulldozed Australia by seven wickets with as many as 25 balls remaining to kick start their campaign in the ICC World Twenty20 2009.

Gayle produced yet another sensational knock and more importantly he left at a stage when the job was as good as done. There were just a few runs to get with far too many balls at their disposal when he holed out probably in pursuit of a personal landmark.

He was batting on 88 and the West Indies were 13 runs away from victory. The only way he could have reached his hundred was to deal in boundaries. Brett Lee was the bowler, having had a nightmarish day. Gayle’s eyes lit up when Lee pitched another one up but the stroke got more elevation than distance and the catch was taken in the deep.

Gayle left the field to a standing ovation by the crowd who had been treated to some of most brutal strokes. Mind you he was toying with the Australian bowlers who were experienced and knew their job. The West Indian captain deserved full credit for having come up with something exceptional to guide his team to a most emphatic victory.

Obviously Gayle was the man who did the job but it would be unfair to ignore the contribution of his young opening partner, Andre Fletcher, who lent him perfect support in the big chase.

It was Fletcher, not Gayle, who began the onslaught in pursuit of a target of 170. They had a plan to make the most of the first six overs and Fletcher was assigned the task of starting the carnage. He showed great confidence in his abilities and was not overawed by the big reputation of the bowlers he was facing.

Fletcher’s unorthodox strokes provided the West Indies an exhilarating start and for a moment Gayle looked content to play second fiddle. This allowed the tall left-hander to get the feel of the proceedings and once he got into the top gear there was nothing that went unpunished.

Ricky Ponting tried every option he had up his sleeves but the breakthrough didn’t come until it was too late. The Australians might have regretted not having a specialist spinner in their side as the part-timers were unable to stem the flow of runs.

Earlier in the day, the West Indian fast bowlers had done a wonderful job by rocking the Australian top-order. Jerone Taylor got his team off to a cracking start by scalping the dangerous Shane Watson and Ponting in the very first over of the game with the neither of the two managing to open their account. Michael Clarke also perished early forcing them to look towards consolidation rather than force opponents to submission.