Chris Gayle stresses importance of capitalising on opportunities – Cricket News Update
Elaborating on the batting philosophy which enabled him to score a record-breaking 150 against New Zealand in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CH-Gayle-c1221 stressed the importance of capitalising on
starts, and making the most of second chances.
“Once you get a start, you need to capitalise on it,” Gayle said. “In Test cricket, once you [get] a chance, you have got to make sure you take advantage of that and that's what I did. Getting a second lifeline, I punished them for that as well. Once you
get a chance, you try to buckle down, get a bit more tight, dig deeper and score as many runs you can get with that chance.”
Gayle returned to the West Indies’ Test squad after a prolonged beak, having played his previous Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 in December 2010, after which a falling out with the West Indies Cricket Board led to his being side-lined by national selectors.
However, despite having spent most of his time in exile playing T20 cricket, and returning to the national squad earlier this year for limited-overs series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, Gayle slipped seamlessly back into the longer format of the
game in his first Test match after his hiatus.
After New Zealand had posted a total of 351 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Gayle stepped up to open his team’s innings with youngster http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kieran-Omar-Akeem-Powell-c71441. The 32-year-old bossed the tourists around for most of day 2 and the earlier part of
day 3, and the Kiwis failed to eliminate the threat of Gayle. He was dropped twice – once by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/LRPL-Taylor-c1849 on day 3 when he was past his century – and the belligerent batsmen made sure he made the tourists
pay for their mistakes.
The result was a massive, record-breaking opening partnership of 254 – the 4th highest opening stand in West Indies’ cricket history, and the highest since Gayle last played for the national side.
In addition, Powell, emboldened by the presence of the senior batsman, scored his maiden Test century (134), while Gayle (who has played 91 Tests for the Windies, with 6373 runs to his credit) scored his 14th Test ton – a 150, which saw him overtaking
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Cuthbert-Gordon-Greenidge-c51796 as the Windies’ highest run-scorer against the Kiwis, and moving up to the joint-third position (with Viv Richards and Everton Weekes) on the list of West Indies batsmen who have registered the most scores of 150 or above.
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