West Indies batsman Chris Gayle pulls a delivery watched by Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu and slip fielder Craig Wishart (centre) during his undefeated 112 run innings in the fifth One Day International at the Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe yesterday. The visitors went on to win the match by 8 wickets and win the series 3-2. - Reuters HARARE, Zimbabwe, CMC:
CHRIS GAYLE literally blew Zimbabwe away with a telling all-round performance that set up an eight-wicket triumph for West Indies in the fifth, final and deciding One-Day International yesterday.
Gayle silenced a near capacity crowd at the Harare Sports Club when he undermined Zimbabwe with four wickets for 24 runs from 10 overs and then plundered an undefeated 112 from 75 balls to help West Indies complete a 3-2 victory in the five-match series.
After Zimbabwe chose to bat on a hard, true Harare Sports Club pitch under cloudy skies, Gayle swept aside Craig Wishart, Alester Maregwede and Mark Vermeulen in his first three overs and added Sean Ervine to trigger a collapse that saw the home team crash to 196 in 47.5 overs.
Gayle then tore into the Zimbabwe bowling, hitting 17 fours and two sixes, and sharing a century, second-wicket partnership with West Indies captain Brian Lara that hastened the visitors to their target in 25.4 overs to earn him the Man-of-the-Match award and confirm him as the choice for the Man-of-the-Series prize as well.
Gayle and fellow opening batsman Wavell Hinds cautiously negotiated the first three overs of the innings shared between Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak and Andy Blignaut.
BOOMING DRIVE
Gayle, however, played one of his trademark 'booming' back-foot drives to the long-off boundary off Blignaut in the fourth over to open the floodgates. The tide was just beginning to rise when Hinds was caught at mid-on for 13 off Blignaut in the eighth over miscuing a pull at a short ball.
The West Indies were 43 for one and for the next 15.5 overs, Gayle, in particular, and Lara held centre stage with a 137-run stand that put the Zimbabwe bowling in its correct perspective for the first time in the series.
There were shots of all descriptions, but Gayle gathered most his runs through the leg-side and Lara favoured the off-side. No bowler was spared, with Lara taking charge of the troublesome left-arm spin bowler Raymond Price by hitting him out of the attack after three overs that cost 29.
41 FROM 42 BALLS
Lara hit five fours and two sixes in 41 from 42 balls before he was bowled leg-stump by Ervine when making room to hit a full-length delivery through the off-side, leaving Gayle to carry his bat and Ricardo Powell to formalise the result.
Earlier, three Zimbabwe batsmen made it into the 30s without carrying on.
Mark Vermeulen top-scored with 36 from 54 balls, Barney Rogers gave the innings early momentum with 34 from 40 balls, and Streak gathered 30 from 62 balls.
Zimbabwe had lost Vusimuzi Sibanda, run out for eight in the 10th over, and Rogers, caught behind off Mervyn Dillon in the 13th over, to be 57 for two. A stand of 50 between Vermeulen and Wishart steadied the innings.
STRANGLED
Gayle and the hard working Corey Collymore strangled the Zimbabwean scoring with mean, purposeful bowling in the middle of the innings. Though Collymore went wicketless in eight overs, he conceded only 22 runs, and Gayle benefitted from the impatience of the batsmen.
Wishart was caught behind in the 23rd over, while Maregwede and Vermeulen were both caught at mid-wicket in the 25th and 27th overs respectively as three wickets fell for four runs in 23 deliveries to leave Zimbabwe at 111 for five.
A stand of 30 between Streak and Zimbabwe vice-captain Tatenda Taibu for the sixth wicket beefed up the total, but Powell and Edwards snared four of the last five wickets which fell for 55 in the space of 10.1 overs.
West Indies leaves Zimbabwe today to head over the border to South Africa, where they will spend nine weeks in which time they tackle that nation in four Tests and five One-day Internationals.
