Chris Gayle century flattens England in Mumbai

West Indies 183-4 (Gayle 100no) beat
England 182-6 (Root 48) by six wickets
15th Match, Super 10 Group 1, ICC World Twenty20, Mumbai
Scorecard

Chris Gayle became the first man to score two ICC World Twenty20 centuries as his blistering 48-ball 100 drove the West Indies to a six-wicket ICC World T20 Group 1 victory over England in Mumbai.

Batting first, England made a competitive 182 for six with Joe Root scoring 48 in 36 balls, but when Gayle is on song, no score is safe.

And on song he certainly was, the powerful opener smashing five fours and 11 sixes to lead the 2012 champions to victory in 18.1 overs.

In the process he also broke his own previous record of 10 sixes in a WT20 match, adding to the century he scored in the first game of the 2007 event - against South Africa.

Earlier, West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first. Two tight overs later, Jason Roy (15) got the scoreboard moving with two boundaries while Alex Hales (28) struck three more in the fourth over.

Roy was caught at midwicket by Samuel Badree (0-34) off Andre Russell (2-36) in the fifth while England finished with 49 for one after the powerplay.

Root (48) and Hales kept the momentum going with their 55-run stand for the second wicket. The duo struck regular boundaries as England moved on to 92 for one after 11 overs.

Sulieman Benn (1-23) returned in the 12th over and he straightaway castled Hales to break the dangerous looking partnership.

Two overs later, Russell slipped in a slower ball and got Root caught at mid-off. Eoin Morgan (27 not out )struck a six off the second ball he faced to push England to 123 for three after 15 overs.

Quick-fire knocks from Jos Buttler (30), Morgan and Ben Stokes (15) helped England plunder 54 runs from the last four overs as the West Indies bowlers struggled with the dew factor which began to take effect.

With 18 runs coming off the last over, England posted a total of 182 for six.

West Indies lost Johnson Charles (0) in the very first over but Marlon Samuels (37) joined hands with Gayle (100 not out) as West Indies raced away to 55 for one in the powerplay.

Samuels took most of the strike and struck eight boundaries in the powerplay phase while Gayle accounted for two fours and a six.

The Introduction of Adil Rashid (1-20) saw the fall of Samuels, who holed out to long-on ending the 55-run stand with Gayle.

The Jamaican left-hander responded with a boundary and a couple of sixes in the next two overs to keep the momentum going.

He hit two more big sixes in the 11th over and completed a 27-ball fifty but England pulled things back with the wickets of Denesh Ramdin (12) and Dwayne Bravo (2), who fell in quick succession.

Three sixes from Gayle in the 14th over brought the required rate down to just over run-a-ball. The big hitting left-hander showed no mercy as he plundered two more sixes and a four in the 16th over and went on to complete a 47-ball hundred in the 18th.

Eventually, West Indies sealed a six-wicket victory in 18.1 overs and moved to the top of the Group 1.

Amidst the Gayle storm, Chris Jordan (0-24) kept calm and was the most economical England bowler even though he took no wickets. Gayle’s second T20I century fetched him the man of the match award.

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