Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle hits a six we wouldn’t believe if we hadn’t just seen it

Chris Gayle developed a taste for clearing the ropes in his 43 ball 80, but one six in particular was more ludicrous than the other seven.

England were so dead, rigor mortis had set in and it’s easier to play freely in that situation, but this shot was stupendous. James Anderson bowled a bouncer and Gayle backed away. While he was still moving – retreating AWAY from the ball – he attempted what could only be described as an upwards flail.

Normally you’d miss. On a good day, you’d get a thin edge to the keeper. On a VERY good day, you’d succeed in lifting it to deep backward point.

Chris Gayle managed to punish the ball 90m into the crowd.

Momentum in cricket

Chris Gayle knows how important momentum is in cricket:

“After the first game, we picked up that momentum but after that disaster at the Sir Viv Stadium and the change of venue, it kind of put us on the back foot.”

He also seems to know how quickly you can gain momentum and lose momentum.

The whole idea about momentum is that it drags you through the tough times. If you gain momentum and lose momentum this easily, it’s not really momentum at all, is it? It’s just ‘what happened in the last game’.

This is pretty much what momentum means in cricket these days. Don’t credit players with a deep philosophy about the game when they spout the word. They’re just reciting it mindlessly like parrots.

Twenty20 World Cup starts with South African win

Another day, another cricket World Cup. We think this one’s likely to be better than the 50 over one though. Many of the things that were wrong with the 50 over World Cup don’t apply here.

It’s shorter, only lasting a couple of weeks. It’s only got the big teams really. Tickets are affordable, so there should be a crowd. Plus, everyone’s going mental for Twenty20 cricket on the whole. It might appeal to non-cricket fans. Or they might just be confused. Who knows?

Chris Gayle walloped the first international Twenty20 hundred, but still the West Indies lost the opening game. Herschelle Gibbs – like Gayle, a batsman who should love this format – hit 90 off 55 balls, but the real acceleration came from Justin Kemp with 46 not out off 22 balls.

Earlier this year we made Justin Kemp a World Cup player to watch. He did nothing. We’re sticking with him and all the other World Cup players to watch (even if they’re not appearing) for this tournament. We’re not selecting specialists.