ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – The West Indies Cricket Board has extended sincere congratulations to Chris Gayle, following his amazing double hundred that propelled West Indies to their second victory today in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, when they beat Zimbabwe by 73 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis Method.
Gayle was in record-breaking mood, smashing an incredible 215 off just 147 balls with 14 fours and 16 sixes before he was out off the last ball of the West Indies’ innings of 372 for two from their allocation of 50 overs in the Pool B match at Manuka Oval in the Australia capital of Canberra.
He became the first player to score a triple century in Tests, a double century in One-day Internationals and a century in Twenty20 Internationals.
Gayle’s 22nd ODI hundred surpassed Garry Kirsten’s previous best of 188 made against the United Arab Emirates in 1996. The 16 sixes equalled the record for the most in an innings.
“On behalf of the directors, management and staff of the WICB and the people of the region, I want to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the team for their emphatic win and Chris for his brilliant innings today,” said Chief Executive Officer of the WICB Michael Muirhead.
“It must be a great feeling for him to have achieved the highest score in the history of the Cricket World Cup. His performance, we are sure, helped to make the day of every West Indian, whether at home or abroad, fans of the game or not.”
Muirhead added: “He deserves every accolade that he receives following such an incredible innings. We know such an achievement does not come easily and we want to thank him for the tremendous effort he displayed.
“Now that he has accomplished such a feat, he has now set a high standard for himself and other members of the team to follow, and we are sure they’ll meet it or beat it in the coming weeks of the tournament! We urge fans to ‘rally hard’ around the team, as they set their sights firmly on winning the title.”
During the innings, Gayle reached the 9,000 run landmark in ODIs and is now second behind Brian Lara 10,405 in the West Indies all-time list. He also broke several West Indies records.
He surpassed Sir Vivian Richards’ 189 not out against England as the highest all-time score by a West Indies batsman, and his 181 against Sri Lanka as the highest score by a West Indian in the 40-year history of the World Cup.
Gayle added a world record 372 for the second wicket with Marlon Samuels, who made a career-best 133 not out, and took two wickets to complete a memorable Man-of-the-Match performance.
“We must also recognise the valuable effort from Marlon and the support he gave Chris from the other end in their World record partnership which contributed to putting us in a strong position in the match,” said Muirhead.
“Again, they showed the value of teamwork and is another fine example to the people of our region about how success can be achieved.”
Muirhead hailed the team’s performance in the tournament so far, recognising their commendable victory over Pakistan and today’s success, and that they have been able to post totals of over 300 in each of their matches.
“We urge them to keep up the good work,” said Muirhead. “They are the source of inspiration for West Indians of all ages by encouraging us to set goals that lead towards fulfilling our own dreams of achievement.
“We are always very proud of their individual and collective achievements. We know these things do not happen without a great deal of effort on the part of all the players, and we want them to know how much we appreciate their efforts.”
West Indies travel to Sydney on Wednesday, as they prepare to face South Africa at the famous Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday (11:30 p.m. on Thursday Eastern Caribbean Time/10:30 p.m. on Thursday Jamaica Time).
Go ahead and heap praise on Gayle after his performance against South Africa.
I refuse to be part if the bandwagon who celebrate when someone does something that he is expected to do. I will give you a pat on the back for extraordinary effort.
These West Indian players are a total waste of time.
Well done. Let us hope this winning streak continues
The continuing senselessness and individualism practiced by another West Indian individualist cricketer that continues to baffle the buffoons called the WICBC. When will we celebrate a West Indies team for what it has accomplished, and not another individual achievement. Do we have another Bryan Lara that is going to again undermine the integrity of the rest of what is left of what was once the glory of West Indies Cricket: Please look at “Fire in Babylon” if one really want to understand what we were made of a long time ago?
We should remove West and add India if we are ever to see serious cricket in this region. They should learn how to select players from disciplined and learned leaders in the cricket field.
I hate biased people who think they are so intelligent. If you had read the article, you would have noted that it gave praise to the whole team and not just to Chris Gale! You people are so pathetic with your silly and nonsensical comments. Get a life yuo fool!
The continuing senselessness and individualism practiced by West Indian which continues to baffle the buffoons called the WCIBC. When will we celebrate and not individual achievements. Do we have another Bryan Lara that is going to undermine the integrity of West Indies Cricket?
Congratulations to Gayle and the Windies! Sixteen sixes! That’s insane! Big up bro!
Shame on the west indies board and selectors for putting their petty agendas ahead of the west Indian people by denying us the full and awesome team that is available to us by rejecting the Best we have in DWAYNE BRAVO AND POLLARD which clearly was the reason for the disinclination of NARINE to serve and the demotivation earlier of Gayle …the cheap tweets against GAYLE by the leadership of the west indies board was childish and meant to break his resolve ..now he has proved he is a greater man than them !
Is SHILLIGFORD not a better spinner than those they now pick ?
I wonder how the president of the WICB and the other members of the Board are feeling after the re tweet of the President. Only in the West Indies that could happen. I truly hope that at the Annual General meeting of the WICB, Mr. Cameron would be voted out of office. Leaders should know that there are certain things, because of the position they hold, should be better left not said. I wish the West Indies players success in their next crucial match against South Africa.