Gayle cracks Duck

In an hour-and-a-quarter of awesome power-hitting here yesterday, Chris Gayle broke from the shackles of self-doubt that have enmeshed him for the past five weeks and the real Chris Gayle emerged.

The tall, young Jamaican left-hander had been so transfixed by the rarity of failure that brought him a sequence of four successive ducks he often stood at the crease with all the mobility of Nelson's Statue.

For half-hour in the last and decisive qualifying round match against Zimbabwe to see which would qualify for Wednesday's final of the LG Abans (the sponsors who are Sri Lanka's equivalent of Courts) triangular One-Day series, there was no change.

Gayle could hardly lay bat on ball and didn't score his first run until his 16th ball. Suddenly, out of a clear blue sky, a change in the bowling and a thumping off-driven boundary led to an immediate transformation.

Clark Kent had become Superman and even Superman, faster than a flying bullet as he might be, would have been hardpressed to stop the missiles that began to fly from Gayle's blade.

Travis Friend, a lively but rookie 20-year-old, was blistered for four fours in his first over on changing ends.

Olonga, the mop-haired fast bowler who is Zimbabwe's most identifiable black cricketer, went for three more through the off-side in the next over before the usually agile fielders had time to blink.

Gary Brent's first ball of the tournament was lashed, crossbatted, into the vacant seats at long-on for six.

He had taken pain-killing injections in a shoulder to play and might have considered the sacrifice not worth it. An over later, he was being despatched for three more boundaries.

By the time Gayle blasted off-spinner Doug Marillier to extra-cover and Olonga swooped to his left to hang on to a blistering catch, he had made 85 from 79 balls effectively 63 balls, given his start with the six and 17, yes 17, fours. In other words, he collected 72 runs without needing to run.

It was a reversion to the clean hitting that brought him so many runs in Zimbabwe and Kenya on the previous tour and over the past two seasons in the West Indies.

Brian Lara, watching with his injured left elbow in plastercast but otherwise comfortable, would have done it with more style. But he couldn't have hit the ball harder.

By the time he was out with the West Indies 121 for two requiring 155, the match was all but over, and Ramnaresh Sarwan and Ryan Hinds, the 20-year-old left-hander on debut, settled it with less spectacular methods.

Given all the circumstances of a difficult tour, Gayle's explosive display, witnessed by no more than 1 200 or so at the ground but appreciably more on television, was a joy.

But it should be put into perspective. Only one of his boundaries was off Heath Streak, Zimbabwe's leading bowler, and he was not as convincing against the off-spin of Marillier and Trevor Gripper as against the medium-pacers.

Wednesday night will be different but if he gets going, the Sri Lankans will be in for a shock. At least the West Indies have the chance of going home with something to show and they did beat the hosts at the same Premadasa Stadium, venue for the final, under lights in an earlier match.

Gayle finished yesterday's contest off with his blitz. Pedro Collins and Corey Collymore, the Bajans from Boscobelle, and Darryl Brown, the Trinidadian from McBean on his international debut, set it up at the start of the day.

Collins had two wickets and Collymore one in their sharp opening bursts and Brown followed up with the next three from ten controlled and consecutive medium-paced overs.

Had it not been for the tactical timidity that is typical of the leadership of this team, Gayle would not have had the opportunity to score half as many as he did because Zimbabwe shouldn't have managed half their total.

Sent in, they were 53 for seven and in retreat when captain Carl Hooper withdrew his assault troops and let the opposition regroup.

To deep-set fields, without a soul close to the bat, the experienced Streak gathered his singles and twos under not the slightest pressure from the straightforward slow stuff of Hooper, Gayle and Hinds.

He scored 57 from 88 balls with a swept six off Hinds' leftarm spin and four fours with simple methods and shepherded Friend, the No. 9, through a partnership of 60 from 17 overs and Brent, the No. 10, through a further 29.

It was, to use the analogy of an altogether more serious contest a few thousand miles off here, as if the Americans had halted their bombardment of Kandahar, the Northern Alliance pulled back once they had taken Kabul and the Taliban was given breathing space to recover.

It was a lack of decisiveness and toughness. This was Zimbabwe, after all, not Australia or South Africa, and a couple of young lower order Zimbabweans at that.

And it was as crystal clear as the day itself that Collins and Collymore were itching to finish it off themselves when they were removed after seven overs each. What it told Zimbabwe was that the West Indies expected trouble so the two main bowlers had to be saved when it came.

Collins forced an edge from Dion Ebrahim first ball that Hooper dropped low to his right at slip and then rattled Grant Flower's off-stump with a full length inswinger.

Collymore took care of Ebrahim with a sharp breakback and Collins did Stuart Carlisle with one run across him. Collymore was running hot as he rattled Craig Wishart's helmet with a bouncer before Hooper's underarm hit ran him out but that was soon the end of the blitz.

Brown, who took over from Collins, got rid of his early nerves by finding Gripper's edge with eighth ball and followed up with the prized wicket of Andy Flower, lbw to a perfectly pitched delivery from round the wicket, and Mariller to Hooper's sprawling catch at short extra-cover.

It was time to bring back the heavy artillery while the adrenaline was still pumping through their veins. Instead, Hooper, the pacifist, elected for more conciliatory methods.

It was left to Gayle to resume the barrage on the beleaguered opposition.