Chris Gayle 215

Gale force West Indies smash records and Zimbabwe!

Chris Gayle 215
Chris Gayle 215

15th  Pool B Match West Indies v Zimbabwe, played at Manuka Oval in Canberra.

West Indies   372-2 Chris Gayle 215 in 147 ball, Marlon Samuels (133) Maskadasa 39-1, Zimbabwe 289 all out 44.3 overs Sean Williams (76), Craig Ervine (52), Taylor 38-3, Holder 48-3.

West Indies win by 73 runs (D/L method)

Explosive West Indies batsman Chris Gayle scored the highest cricket World Cup score by smashing 215 runs in 147- ball against Zimbabwe at the Manuka Oval here Tuesday.
Chris Gayle’s double century in the 46th over, smashed many a record  including the first non- Indian to achieve the feat, with 16 sixes, 10 fours,  63.25 per cent run in boundaries, 

105 ball first 100, 33 ball second hundred,Strike rate 146.25, Samuels, meanwhile, was batting with caution for most of his 156-ball innings.

The 35-year-old was dismissed with the last ball of the innings trying for a 17th six but only succeeding in holing out in the deep as West Indies closed on 372-2.

Zimbabwe had their run-chase trimmed to 363 from 48 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain briefly interrupted the contest and they initially made a good fist of it. Middle order batsmen Sean Williams (76) and Craig Ervine (52) and Brendan Taylor was dismissed for 37 after a third umpire referral.

When Gayle, who took two for 35, returned with the ball to dismiss Ervine and Stuart Matsikenyeri (19) with his off-spin, Zimbabwe and they were all out for 289 in the 45th over.

372 – The 372 run stand is a world record for any wicket in ODI cricket, surpassing the 331 added by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid for India against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999.

54 – Breaking the previous highest World Cup partnership by 54, Samuels and Gayle now hold this record as well, surpassing the 318 Dravid and Ganguly for India against Sri Lanka at Taunton the same year. The previous best World Cup score was 188 which was scored by South Africa’s Gary Kirsten against the United Arab Emirates way back in 1996.

This is the first instance that the 200-mark has been crossed in the quadrennial event. However, three other Indian batsmen have scored double centuries in One-Day Internationals.

Legendary Sachin Tendulkar was the first to score an unbeaten 200 against South Africa in 2010. The next year, Virender Sehwag smashed 219 against the Windies.

Current India opener Rohit Sharma is the only batsman with two double hundreds to his name which came against Australia, 209 in 2013, and Sri Lanka, 264 in 2014. The latter is the highest individual score in ODIs.