Chris Gayle double century set up Zimbadwe defeat

Photo: Chris Gayle pulls during his record innings of 215 against Zimbabwe (Getty Images)

Records tumbled at the Manuka Oval and hard hitting West Indies opener, Chris Gayle was responsible for most of them. Gayle became the first batsman to score a double century in the World Cup.  Marlon Samuel and Gayle now has the highest partnership in ODI history, 372, beating Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid 331, the most balls a pair has batted together (298), again removing the same duo.

Gayle has the highest score in a World Cup, surpassing Gary Kirsten’s 188 not out against United Arab Emirates in 1996, the most number of sixes in an ODI innings 16, drawing level with AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma.

The two Jamaicans came together with no runs on the board after two balls. The pair settled and were always in control, getting to 215 off 147 balls. Samuels scored a classy 133 from 156. The West Indies ended on 372 for 2, their highest ODI total ever.

The Zimbabwean bowlers had a very long day and they must have felt they fielded for more than 50 overs with such hitting.

Zimbabwe, who had batted with purpose in their previous matches, gave further proof of their ability with a good effort to chase the runs.

Sean Williams led the way with 76, and there were contributions from Craig Ervine and Brendan Taylor as they did their best effort to reduce the margin of defeat. Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder led the way with three wickets each, while Gayle chipped in with two as Zimbabwe’s pursuit of 363 in 48 overs after 20 minutes were lost to rain 2.3 overs into the innings – finished on 289, 73 runs behind (D/L method).

The Caribbean team is now on 4 points with the win and sit second (2nd) in the table behind India who also have 4 points with a better net run rate and a game in hand.

West Indies goes up against South Africa on Thursday 10:30pm Jamaican time.