Blowing a Gayle: West Indies opener smashes Cricket World Cup record

West Indies opener Chris Gayle broke the record for the highest individual score at the World Cup against Zimbabwe, during their 73-run win yesterday. It was a feat baseball fans could identify with when players hit for the cycle. For soccer fans, the Gayle double century is like scoring five goals in a match (only four have achieved this). And If you’re an Olympic sprinter, it would be like running 100 metres in under 10 seconds – Usain Bolt owns three of those records.

After surviving an early L.B.W. appeal and nurdling along with less than impressive stroke play, the 35-year old Gayle exploded and hit his straps, reaching a remarkable 215 from a measly 138 balls – his last 50 runs coming off a mere 12 balls. It will go down as one of the most memorable World Cup moments in history and one cricket fans won’t forget anytime soon. It was the fastest double century of all time.

During Monday night’s match, Gayle broke a sprinkling of records and joined an exclusive double century club where only four players have achieved the improbable conquest. He broke Gary Kirsten’s highest World Cup score of 188, he now holds the record for most sixes (16) along with two others and the West Indies produced their highest team score of 372 in One Day history as well as the highest One Day team score in Australia, and fifth highest team score in World Cups. Just to name a few. There are more.

It was when Gayle reached 150 that he decided to really up the ante. He hit: 6,4,6,4,6,6,6,1,6,1,4,4. For baseball fans, think of the sixes as home runs and the fours as doubles.

Leading up to the World Cup Chris Gayle’s form was less than impressive and bordering on career ending with scores of 4, 36, 1, 0, 0, 10, 1, 19, 41, a total of 112 runs from nine outings. Half of those innings were against low-ranked teams like Scotland and Ireland and out of form England and Pakistan. But his 215 runs was not unexpected. Critics and cricket pundits know that Gayle is capable of these epic kncoks when he finds his zone. For the past 12 months though, Gayle has been struggling with form and has been at loggerheads with the West Indian Cricket Board over player contracts.

It was only three days ago that West Indies chief executive Dave Cameron was reprimanded for rewteeting a fan’s tweet during the Pakistan match that said:

Gayle was dismissed for four against Pakistan, stretching his run of not making a century to 20 One Day matches. Since yesterday, West Indies fans have taken to Twitter throwing support behind Gayle.

Gayle told Assoicated Press that he needed the lucky break he got from his early L.B.W reprieve but was happy he could contribute runs to the team.

"There's been a lot of pressure. The runs haven't been coming," Gayle said. "In the end I am sure I gave (the fans and critics) something to talk about."