On February 24, 2010, Sachin Tendulkar became the first player to score a double century in a men's One-Day International cricket match.
Today, exactly five years later, Chris Gayle battered a depleted Zimbabwean bowling attack to score the first double century by a non-Indian and the first in a World Cup, at the Manuka Oval, in Canberra.
Only four double centuries had been scored before today in the men's ODI cricket, one each by Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and two by Rohit Sharma. In women's cricket, though, the frontier had been crossed much earlier: Belinda Clark, was the first cricketer to hit a double century when she slammed an unbeaten 229 off 155 balls in a World Cup match against Denmark in Mumbai, way back in 1997.
Gayle eventually got out on the last ball for a magnificent 215 off 147 balls. On the way he smashed 10 fours and 16 sixes in an innings that broke many records, ending a bad patch that stretched back to June 2013. He also guided the West Indies to a mighty impressive 372/2 in their 50 overs.
This was Gayle's highest ever ODI score, the highest World Cup score and even the World Cup record for sixes in a single innings. This came after Gayle survived a close leg-before-wicket shout on the first ball he faced but even though Hawkeye suggested the ball would have hit the bails, it was the umpire's call and that was not out.
Gayle was also caught near the boundary in the 41st over, but luckily for his fans, that was a no-ball. West Indies were 203/1 at that stage with Gayle just on 121. Zimbabwe went on to concede 152 runs off the last ten overs.
Zimbabwe may be ranked 10th in the World and considered a minnow, but West Indies haven't been quite so impressive themselves either in recent months. In a 5-match ODI series against South Africa, they lost four matches. Against India, they lost two out of three matches. They even lost to Ireland, another minnow and with much less international experience than Zimbabwe. Still, no matter who a double century is scored against, it is still a significant feat.
Gayle joins the company of Virender Sehwag for being the only two players to have a triple century in Test matches, double century in ODIs and a century in T20 cricket. Gayle took two balls less than Sehwag did in December of 2011 to set another record of the fastest double century in ODI history. He also managed to score 50 runs — between 150 and 200 — in just 12 balls.
Among the five double centuries, only Rohit Sharma's 209 contained a higher percentage of dot balls. Gayle faced 59 dot balls or 40% of the total balls he faced.
West Indies won the toss and chose to bat but Zimbabwe straight away got the opening blow. On the second ball of the innings, Dwayne Smith was clean bowled by Panyangara leaving West Indies on 0/1 in two balls. Marlon Samuels stepped in and along with Chris Gayle, took the Zimbabwe bowlers to the cleaners. They shared a record breaking 372 partnership for the 2nd wicket scoring at a run-rate of 7.48 runs per ball. The two faced a similar number of balls but Gayle had scored almost a hundred more runs than his partner. Marlon Samuels did end up scoring his personal highest score of 133.
Trying to go for a six off the last ball, he badly mistimed the shot and was caught out. But by then he had hit 16 sixes which ties the record for maximum sixes in an innings alongside AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma.
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Today, exactly five years later, Chris Gayle battered a depleted Zimbabwean bowling attack to score the first double century by a non-Indian and the first in a World Cup, at the Manuka Oval, in Canberra.
Only four double centuries had been scored before today in the men's ODI cricket, one each by Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and two by Rohit Sharma. In women's cricket, though, the frontier had been crossed much earlier: Belinda Clark, was the first cricketer to hit a double century when she slammed an unbeaten 229 off 155 balls in a World Cup match against Denmark in Mumbai, way back in 1997.
Gayle eventually got out on the last ball for a magnificent 215 off 147 balls. On the way he smashed 10 fours and 16 sixes in an innings that broke many records, ending a bad patch that stretched back to June 2013. He also guided the West Indies to a mighty impressive 372/2 in their 50 overs.
This was Gayle's highest ever ODI score, the highest World Cup score and even the World Cup record for sixes in a single innings. This came after Gayle survived a close leg-before-wicket shout on the first ball he faced but even though Hawkeye suggested the ball would have hit the bails, it was the umpire's call and that was not out.
Gayle was also caught near the boundary in the 41st over, but luckily for his fans, that was a no-ball. West Indies were 203/1 at that stage with Gayle just on 121. Zimbabwe went on to concede 152 runs off the last ten overs.
Zimbabwe may be ranked 10th in the World and considered a minnow, but West Indies haven't been quite so impressive themselves either in recent months. In a 5-match ODI series against South Africa, they lost four matches. Against India, they lost two out of three matches. They even lost to Ireland, another minnow and with much less international experience than Zimbabwe. Still, no matter who a double century is scored against, it is still a significant feat.
Gayle joins the company of Virender Sehwag for being the only two players to have a triple century in Test matches, double century in ODIs and a century in T20 cricket. Gayle took two balls less than Sehwag did in December of 2011 to set another record of the fastest double century in ODI history. He also managed to score 50 runs — between 150 and 200 — in just 12 balls.
Among the five double centuries, only Rohit Sharma's 209 contained a higher percentage of dot balls. Gayle faced 59 dot balls or 40% of the total balls he faced.
West Indies won the toss and chose to bat but Zimbabwe straight away got the opening blow. On the second ball of the innings, Dwayne Smith was clean bowled by Panyangara leaving West Indies on 0/1 in two balls. Marlon Samuels stepped in and along with Chris Gayle, took the Zimbabwe bowlers to the cleaners. They shared a record breaking 372 partnership for the 2nd wicket scoring at a run-rate of 7.48 runs per ball. The two faced a similar number of balls but Gayle had scored almost a hundred more runs than his partner. Marlon Samuels did end up scoring his personal highest score of 133.
Trying to go for a six off the last ball, he badly mistimed the shot and was caught out. But by then he had hit 16 sixes which ties the record for maximum sixes in an innings alongside AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma.
