Chris Gayle Makes History At Cricket World Cup With Record 215 Runs Against Zimbabwe

Chris Gayle Makes History At Cricket World Cup With Record 215 Runs Against Zimbabwe
Author

Associated Press Report

Release Date

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

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Chris Gayle felt like he’d lost the support of West Indies cricket administrators and fans when he heard jokes doing the rounds on social media about a pending pension plan.

Scoring runs was the only way to regain full respect, and he did that in emphatic fashion with a World Cup-record innings of 215 in a 73-run win over Zimbabwe in a Pool B match on Tuesday.

West Indies captain Jason Holder had confidence the 35-year-old Jamaican would get back to his big-hitting best, but Gayle admitted he’d been upset when a senior West Indies Cricket Board official retweeted a spectator’s suggestion it was time for a “retirement package” after he was dismissed for 4 in the 150-run World Cup Pool B win over Pakistan on the weekend.

“With the tweet and everything, you’re disappointed to see who it actually came from,” Gayle said. “It was a time when you’re a player, you need support.”

Gayle, who hadn’t scored a one-day international century since mid-2013, took matters into his own hands.

His extraordinary 16 sixes in his 147-ball innings is a record for an ODI equalled only by South Africa captain AB de Villiers and India’s Rohit Sharma. Gayle’s first ODI double-century surpassed Gary Kirsten’s 188 at the 1996 tournament as the highest score ever at a World Cup. And his 372-run partnership — from 318 balls — with Marlon Samuels was a record in limited-overs internationals.

“To score a double century in an ODI, its right up there. It’s got to be the best feeling,” Gayle said. “I hope this is the start of a new beginning.”

The spell-bound crowd seemed oblivious to the light drizzling rain that made the daunting task for the Zimbabwe spin bowlers all the more difficult against Gayle.

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