West Indies captain Chris Gayle expressed relief Saturday after steering his side to the four-wicket victory over Zimbabwe that snapped a woeful winless streak that had stretched to 15 games. Gayle staged a responsible and restrained batting effort on a difficult pitch, gathering 88 runs off 111 balls that set the platform their second One Day International (ODI) victory that was secured in the end by a superb unbeaten 65 from Narsingh Deonarine. "It's a relief. Hopefully this is the first of many to come," Gayle said.
The result gave West Indies their first international win since a depleted side prevailed over Bangladesh in a Twenty20 International last August in St Kitts. It also levelled the five-match series at 1-1 after Zimbabwe had humiliated the home side in the series opener on Thursday, defeating them by two runs. "I must say Zimbabwe played really well to push us so far but I must commend the boys on coming back from the defeat,” Gayle said. The big left-hander struck seven fours and two sixes in his top score and had faced 111 balls when he fell 12 short of a 20th ODI hundred.
In a very positive approach, Deonarine hit six fours and one six in posting 65 not out from 85 balls, as West Indies—chasing 207 for victory from their allocation of 50 overs—reached their target with 13 balls to spare. Gayle specifically praised Deonarine for his innings and declared him deserving of the man of the match honour. Zimbabwe had scored 206 all off 49.5 overs after left-arm spinner Nikita Miller picked up a career best four for 43 off nine overs, backed up well by pacer Kemar Roach (3-37). (CMC)
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