Brilliant Gayle turns mundane into magic

X-Factor.

Some have it, many don’t.

When Chris Gayle is at the peak of his trade, he epitomises it.

When Gayle strode to the crease against Zimbabwe at Manuka Oval he was sorely out of form, averaging 14.42 from his last 20 ODI innings.

His last one-day ton was in June 2013 and his first two knocks at the ICC Cricket World Cup had produced lacklustre scores of four and 36.

He’d also been the subject of seemingly constant controversy, most recently finding himself at the centre of a Twitter storm in which the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, Dave Cameron, appeared to endorse a fan’s view that the opener should be dropped.  

Nonetheless, the West Indies were coming off a good win over Pakistan and the dedicated fans who had braved a drizzly Tuesday afternoon in Canberra were hopeful of seeing some excitement from the Windies’ big hitters.

Those hopes were dulled somewhat when Dwayne Smith was dismissed for a duck on the second ball of the innings.

Gayle himself could have been out lbw for nought two balls later, but received the benefit of the doubt from the umpire, and Hawkeye.

How different the day could have been.

When Gayle reached three figures from 105 balls, West Indies fans – and the crowd in general – were pleased to see him back in the runs.

It was as he blazed his second 100 off just 33 balls that the atmosphere of the ground was transformed.

Suddenly, the rain that had continued to fall (fortunately not enough to warrant leaving the field) since the start of the innings mattered little.

The excitement of the spectators grew exponentially with each Gayle six.

Crowd catches were held, others were dropped and a spectator busy tweeting about the innings he was witnessing ducked to evade yet another huge Gayle maximum.

Team alliances didn’t matter.

A volunteer who did not even understand the rules of cricket was absorbed. She may not have understood exactly what she was witnessing (take a deep breath) – the highest World Cup score ever, the third highest ODI score, the highest ODI partnership, a record-equalling 16 sixes in an individual innings, the fastest-ever ODI double century, the highest team total on Australian soil, the first player outside India to score 200 in an ODI and the first player to score a 300 in Tests, 200 in ODIs and 100 in T20I – but she knew it was special.

That’s what Chris Gayle can do.

On a wet weekday afternoon the mood at Manuka Oval was electric. Those watching knew they were witnessing history and a fixture that was already so important for both teams’ finals hopes become something else altogether.

“I was there” will be an oft-repeated phrase in offices around Canberra this week, and probably beyond.

When Gayle eventually strode back to the rooms, triumphant and cramping after facing 147 balls and smashing 215, the crowd was on its feet while his teammates had been waiting impatiently to congratulate him since the 48-over mark.

Gayle expressed his relief following the innings, acknowledging the crowd he had held captivated for 50 overs.

"There's been a lot of pressure,” he said. “The runs haven't been coming. So many people wanted me to score runs. And I'm really glad I gave them something to cheer about."

And just like that, Gayle has made Friday’s match between West Indies and South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground one to salivate over.

The underdogs, spurred on by their talismanic opener, will fancy springing a surprise on a tournament heavyweight for whom the pressure continues to build.