Veteran West Indies opener Chris Gayle announced his retirement from One-Day International cricket after receiving a call-up for the England series. Everyone expected that he has run out of gas, which forced him to make this call. But he proved them all wrong by scoring over 400 runs in the five-match series.
West Indies won the fifth ODI in St. Lucia by seven wickets and square the series by 2-2. Chris Gayle show was on during this match as well. He ended the series with a 50+ score in each of four matches. Thus, he was named the Man of the Series for scoring 424 runs.
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Speaking at the post-match presentation, he said “Man of the Series at age 39, come on youngsters what’s happening (laughs). It’s a fantastic series. To be able to tie the series 2-2, both teams played well. Today our bowlers were fantastic. Oshane with his first five-wicket haul, Carlos was brilliant. And the captain and Cottrell as well.”
He further added “Sometimes as a batter you’re weary of small totals. So as I was padding up, I thought about putting them under pressure early. At one stage I thought is this going to be my last innings for Windies in the Caribbean. Another good turnout today.”
Also Read: Chris Gayle to reconsider retirement after England heroics
Gayle also said that the performance in the series would make other teams respect Windies in the upcoming World Cup. “We will get a bit of respect going into the World Cup. If we get it right as a unit, we can create some damage in the World Cup. We’re very capable of winning games in England,” the 39-year-old concluded.
Windies bowlers blew the England batting line-up away on a bouncy track and bundled their innings for 113. This was the small total to chase but England was expecting their bowlers to give a hard time to West Indies batsmen. However, this was not the case this time around as Universe Boss was in the mood to have some fun.
He toyed with the English bowling line-up and raced to a 19-ball fifty, fastest by a Windies batsman. Mark Wood dismissed him for a 27-ball 77-run innings.
