GALLE, Sri Lanka, CMC – A rampaging Chris Gayle uncorked his third Test double century and his highest score on foreign soil, to spearhead a fabulous West Indies batting effort on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka here yesterday.
The giant Jamaican left-hander was unbeaten on 219 at the close, his 13th Test century, as the tourists piled up an impressive 362 for two after new captain Darren Sammy won the toss and batted first at Galle International Stadium.
Axed as skipper prior to the tour, Gayle pounced on the chance to recapture the spotlight with a high octane innings laced with 26 fours and eight sixes, a combination of cracking straight hits off the spinners and leg-side pulls off the faster bowlers.
The experienced opener faced 247 balls in his knock, and anchored two splendid century stands along the way with players in the fledgling stages of their careers.
He carved out 110 for the first wicket with 20-year-old Adrian Barath who made an even 50 and then added a record 196 for the second wicket with debutant left-hander Darren Bravo who scored 58.
At stumps, he was entrenched in yet another productive partnership, an unbroken 56 for the third wicket with veteran left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul who was on 20.
It was the first time the 31-year-old Gayle had reached triple figures on the Asian subcontinent and was only his second score above 50 against Sri Lanka in eight previous Tests. With West Indies entering the game short of match practice after their three-day tour match was wrecked by rain last week, Gayle chose the ideal time to unveil one of his best Test innings.
He struggled in the early stages, playing and missing several times against the new ball pair of Thilan Thushara and Dammika Prasad, and needed 19 balls before he could get off the mark.
However, the former captain’s first scoring shot was a clip through backward square for four off Thushara, and it broke the shackles as he reeled off three boundaries in the next over from the same bowler to move into full stride.
Barath, meanwhile, continued to show touches of class, gathering boundaries from both seamers on both sides of the wicket, and greeting mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis with a sweetly timed cover drive when he was introduced after 11 overs with West Indies on 37 without loss.
By now, Gayle was in full cry and he lofted the fourth ball of Mendis’ third over, over long off for the first of his two sixes in the session, before planting the right-armer Prasad over the deep mid-wicket boundary for his second.
Gayle reached his first half-century on Sri Lankan soil with a powerful slog-sweep through mid-wicket off off-spinner Suraj Randiv which also brought up the century stand, before Barath reached his landmark in the next over with a single off Mendis.
Barath, who struck eight fours and faced 86 balls, fell in the penultimate over before lunch when he got one that bounced and straightened from Randiv and edged to Mahela Jayawardene at slip.
With Bravo as his new ally, Gayle marched on unperturbed, dominating the second session while virtually reducing the 21-year-old to being a spectator, as the Windies went without losing a wicket.
He brought up the fifty partnership with a swept boundary off Randiv as he moved to 89, and then smashed the next delivery straight overhead for six, to move within sight of three figures.
Two balls later, he launched Randiv over long off for another six to reach his century off 117 balls.
In contrast, the elegant Bravo was watchful but pounced on anything loose as he counted six fours off 159 balls. His first scoring shot was a text book cover drive and he gathered subsequent boundaries with a beautiful punch down the ground off Mendis and a searing cut off Thushara.
He brought up his half-century with an exquisite cover-driven four off Mendis in the final session but carelessly lost his wicket when he top-edged an innocuous delivery from the same bowler to Thilan Samaraweera at square leg at 306 for two.
The partnership was the highest for the second wicket against Sri Lanka.
Unbeaten on 145 at tea, Gayle took a special liking to the inexperienced Randiv, smashing the bowler for two sixes down the ground in his 26th over, to post a record for the most sixes by a Windies batsman in an innings with eight.
With his double century in sight, he finally reached the landmark quietly with a single behind square on the off-side, before riding his luck with streaky boundaries off Prasad as Sri Lanka toiled without fortune.
SCOREBOARD
WEST INDIES 1st Innings
C Gayle not out 219
A Barath c Jayawardene b Randiv 50
DM Bravo c Samaraweera b Mendis 58
S Chanderpaul not out 20
Extras (lb5, w2, nb8) 15
TOTAL (2 wkts, 90 overs) 362
To bat: B Nash, DJ Bravo, +C Baugh, *D Sammy, A Russell, S Shillingford, K Roach.
Fall of wickets: 1-110 (Barath), 2-306 (DM Bravo).
Bowling: Thushara 13-2-53-0, Prasad 15-2-63-0, Mendis 29-1-90-1, Randiv 32-1-144-1, Dilshan 1-0-7-0.
SRI LANKA – Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan,Tharanga Paranavitana, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Prasanna Jayawardene (wicketkeeper), Angelo Mathews, Suraj Randiv, Dammika Prasad, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Thushara.