In an hour-and-a-quarter of awesome power-hitting here
yesterday, Chris Gayle broke from the shackles of self-doubt
that have enmeshed him for the past five weeks and the real
Chris Gayle emerged
Tony Cozier17-Dec-2001In an hour-and-a-quarter of awesome power-hitting here
yesterday, Chris Gayle broke from the shackles of self-doubt
that have enmeshed him for the past five weeks and the real
Chris Gayle emerged.The tall, young Jamaican left-hander had been so transfixed
by the rarity of failure that brought him a sequence of four
successive ducks he often stood at the crease with all the
mobility of Nelson’s Statue.For half-hour in the last and decisive qualifying round
match against Zimbabwe to see which would qualify for
Wednesday’s final of the LG Abans (the sponsors who are Sri
Lanka’s equivalent of Courts) triangular One-Day series,
there was no change.Gayle could hardly lay bat on ball and didn’t score his
first run until his 16th ball. Suddenly, out of a clear blue
sky, a change in the bowling and a thumping off-driven
boundary led to an immediate transformation.TransformationClark Kent had become Superman and even Superman, faster
than a flying bullet as he might be, would have been hardpressed to stop the missiles that began to fly from Gayle’s
blade.Travis Friend, a lively but rookie 20-year-old, was
blistered for four fours in his first over on changing ends.Olonga, the mop-haired fast bowler who is Zimbabwe’s most
identifiable black cricketer, went for three more through
the off-side in the next over before the usually agile
fielders had time to blink.Gary Brent’s first ball of the tournament was lashed, crossbatted, into the vacant seats at long-on for six.He had taken pain-killing injections in a shoulder to play
and might have considered the sacrifice not worth it. An
over later, he was being despatched for three more
boundaries.By the time Gayle blasted off-spinner Doug Marillier to
extra-cover and Olonga swooped to his left to hang on to a
blistering catch, he had made 85 from 79 balls effectively
63 balls, given his start with the six and 17, yes 17,
fours. In other words, he collected 72 runs without needing
to run.It was a reversion to the clean hitting that brought him so
many runs in Zimbabwe and Kenya on the previous tour and
over the past two seasons in the West Indies.Brian Lara, watching with his injured left elbow in
plastercast but otherwise comfortable, would have done it
with more style. But he couldn’t have hit the ball harder.By the time he was out with the West Indies 121 for two
requiring 155, the match was all but over, and Ramnaresh
Sarwan and Ryan Hinds, the 20-year-old left-hander on debut,
settled it with less spectacular methods.Given all the circumstances of a difficult tour, Gayle’s
explosive display, witnessed by no more than 1 200 or so at
the ground but appreciably more on television, was a joy.But it should be put into perspective. Only one of his
boundaries was off Heath Streak, Zimbabwe’s leading bowler,
and he was not as convincing against the off-spin of
Marillier and Trevor Gripper as against the medium-pacers.Different storyWednesday night will be different but if he gets going, the
Sri Lankans will be in for a shock. At least the West Indies
have the chance of going home with something to show and
they did beat the hosts at the same Premadasa Stadium, venue
for the final, under lights in an earlier match.Gayle finished yesterday’s contest off with his blitz. Pedro
Collins and Corey Collymore, the Bajans from Boscobelle, and
Darryl Brown, the Trinidadian from McBean on his
international debut, set it up at the start of the day.Collins had two wickets and Collymore one in their sharp
opening bursts and Brown followed up with the next three
from ten controlled and consecutive medium-paced overs.Had it not been for the tactical timidity that is typical of
the leadership of this team, Gayle would not have had the
opportunity to score half as many as he did because Zimbabwe
shouldn’t have managed half their total.Sent in, they were 53 for seven and in retreat when captain
Carl Hooper withdrew his assault troops and let the
opposition regroup.No pressureTo deep-set fields, without a soul close to the bat, the
experienced Streak gathered his singles and twos under not
the slightest pressure from the straightforward slow stuff
of Hooper, Gayle and Hinds.He scored 57 from 88 balls with a swept six off Hinds’ leftarm spin and four fours with simple methods and shepherded
Friend, the No. 9, through a partnership of 60 from 17 overs
and Brent, the No. 10, through a further 29.It was, to use the analogy of an altogether more serious
contest a few thousand miles off here, as if the Americans
had halted their bombardment of Kandahar, the Northern
Alliance pulled back once they had taken Kabul and the
Taliban was given breathing space to recover.It was a lack of decisiveness and toughness. This was
Zimbabwe, after all, not Australia or South Africa, and a
couple of young lower order Zimbabweans at that.And it was as crystal clear as the day itself that Collins
and Collymore were itching to finish it off themselves when
they were removed after seven overs each. What it told
Zimbabwe was that the West Indies expected trouble so the
two main bowlers had to be saved when it came.Collins forced an edge from Dion Ebrahim first ball that
Hooper dropped low to his right at slip and then rattled
Grant Flower’s off-stump with a full length inswinger.Collymore took care of Ebrahim with a sharp breakback and
Collins did Stuart Carlisle with one run across him.
Collymore was running hot as he rattled Craig Wishart’s
helmet with a bouncer before Hooper’s underarm hit ran him
out but that was soon the end of the blitz.Brown, who took over from Collins, got rid of his early
nerves by finding Gripper’s edge with eighth ball and
followed up with the prized wicket of Andy Flower, lbw to a
perfectly pitched delivery from round the wicket, and
Mariller to Hooper’s sprawling catch at short extra-cover.It was time to bring back the heavy artillery while the
adrenaline was still pumping through their veins. Instead,
Hooper, the pacifist, elected for more conciliatory methods.It was left to Gayle to resume the barrage on the
beleaguered opposition.
