A total of 724 runs were scored in first One-Day International match between the West Indies and England at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown on Wednesday with Chris Gayle scoring a match-high score of 135. In the process, he also became the owner of most international sixes, breaking Pakistan hard-hitter Shahid Afridi's record.
Playing in his first match in seven months, the 39-year-old once again showed his six-hitting prowess, clobbering as many as 12 sixes as hapless England bowlers ran for cover.
After Windies captain Jason Holder elected to bat first, Gayle and his opening partner, debutant John Campbell started rather slowly. Gayle himself got a life in the 12th over, dropped by Roy off Liam Plunkett. He took 37 balls to hit his first boundary, a six off the first ball of the 15th over off Moeen Ali.
That six over long-on helped him overtake Afridi (476 for Pakistan, Asia and ICC) as the most prolific six-hitter in international cricket. It was followed by another 11 maximums. He may well retire as the only person to hit 500 sixes. Realistically, Rohit Sharma (349) of India is the only batsman who can come close to that mark.
Watch all his sixes here:
Chris Gayle went berserk this morning ðÂÂÂÂÂÂ¥
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) February 21, 2019
ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂIt's even better when you mash every six with an epic orchestral track ð¼ pic.twitter.com/KVb1lM0oOI
Most of his 12 sixes in the match were monstrous, but the last three sixes were out of the ground and new balls were needed a couple of times. Later, Windies cricket shared a video of groundstaff retrieving the balls from rooftops.
Meanwhile at Kensington Oval..
— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) February 20, 2019
The rescue mission is on the way!ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂð Good News..we found them..well..most of them ðÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂð½ #WIvENG #MenInMaroon #ItsOurGame pic.twitter.com/7VeHZ19fxG
121m Six of Gayle ... pic.twitter.com/c12y3dRcYi
— Taimoor Zaman (@taimoorze) February 20, 2019
With his 12th six, Gayle also became the first batsman to hit 100 international sixes against England. Some way to announce his return for the Universe Boss.
In 285 ODIs, Gayle has now scored 9862 runs 2ith 24 tons with the help of 287 sixes and 1076 fours. By the way, he also has 905 sixes in 369 T20s for a plethora of teams ranging from Balk Legends in Afghanistan to Western Australia.
But their total of 360/8 was not enough against the top-ranked ODI side in the world. As it turned out, England chased down the target without much fuss with Jason Roy (123 off 85) and Joe Root (102 off 97) hitting imperious centuries to win by six wickets with eight balls to spare.
That's not the highest successful chase in the history of ODIs though. But it sure was their first win while up against a target of more than 350 runs, and third-highest off all time. They have already scored three 360+ scores while batting second, losing them all.
The match also witnessed 23 sixes in the Windies innings, a record.