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Gayle says
Windies will bounce back
West Indies captain Chris Gayle smashed the 17th century of
his One-Day International career, but it was not enough to
secure a victory over Pakistan in the opening match of the
Fortune Cup Series on Wednesday.
Playing for the first time at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in
Abu Dhabi, the powerful left-hander hit 11 fours and five
mammoth sixes in a stunning knock of 113 off 106 balls as
the Windies reached 294 for 9 off 50 overs. Pakistan replied
with 295 for 6 off 49.5 overs to win by four wickets with
one ball to spare.
“I felt I batted really well today, but I would have liked
to come away with a victory in the first match we played at
this ground. It was a really good pitch for batting. We were
confident we could defend the score we put up,” Gayle said
after the match. “Credit must go to Pakistan for the way
they played. They always kept themselves in the match and
batted well all the way through. We fought hard but they
managed to get the better of us.”
In the batting, good contributions also came from opener
Sewnarine Chattergoon (33) in an opening stand of 125 with
Gayle. Vice Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan made 55 from 61 balls,
while Shiv Chanderpaul and Xavier Marshall scored at better
than a run-a-ball to maintain the momentum. In the bowling,
seamer Lionel Baker was confident in his first international
outing, taking 3 for 47.
Gayle’s brilliant batting him the Man-of-the-Match award. It
was the first century at the ground and the second in as
many matches for the 29-year-old, following the
match-winning 110 not out against Canada in Toronto back in
August.
He noted that the Team plans to have a close look at how
things went in Wednesday’s match and will be aiming to
bounce back and square the series in the second match on
Friday.
“We have to bounce back strong, we have no choice. We have
to win on Friday and keep the series alive. We know the
areas we have to pay closer attention to and correct. We
intend to do just that,” Gayle said.
The second One-Day International is on Friday, November 14,
and the third on Sunday, November 16, at 3 pm (7 am Eastern
Caribbean Time/6 am Jamaica Time). Cricket fans can watch
uninterrupted coverage of the West Indies ODIs against
Pakistan courtesy of Digicel, who purchased the broadcast
rights to the three ODIs so that they can be broadcasted
free on terrestrial TV around the Caribbean.
