Ever heard of batsmen getting bored of hitting sixes? Unthinkable, right? The impossible might just have happened at Granada. Well, one wouldn’t blame the England and West Indies batters, especially Jos Buttler and Chris Gayle if at one point on Thursday they actually did think ‘enough is enough, no more sixes please’.
Together, Gayle and Buttler hit 26 sixes, yes you read that right, in a match in which the crowd had more opportunities to catch the ball than the fielders.
England, in the end, pipped West Indies by 29 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. The third ODI was washed out without a ball being bowled. Batting first, England posted 418 for six, riding on Jos Buttler’s breathtaking 150 off only 77 balls. Captain Eoin Morgan was the other centurion of the innings but his 88-ball 103, scored at a strike rate of 117.04 appeared ‘slow’ compared to Buttler’s innings. Useful contributions came from openers Alex Hales(82) and Johny Bairstow(56).
In reply, West Indies were ahead of the required rate till Chris Gayle was at the crease. The Universe Boss hit 14 sixes on his way to 162 off 97 balls. Darren Bravo(61) and Carlos Brathwaite(50) too played their part but a brilliant spell of bowling from Adil Rashid in which he picked up four wickets in five balls stopped the Windies on their tracks. Rashid finished with five for 84 and West Indies were bowled out for 389.
Here is the list of records broken in England vs West Indies 4th ODI
Chris Gayle became the first cricketer to hit 500 sixes in international cricket. Gayle, who got past Shahid Afridi’s tally of 476 sixes in the first ODI, now has 506 sixes – 305 in ODIs, 103 in T20Is, 98 in Tests - to his name.
The left-hander has already hit 30 sixes in the series, which his the most by any batsman in a bilateral series. There is still one match to go and it won’t be a surprise if goes all out for a half-century of sixes in the series
Gayle also became the second West Indian after Brian Lara to reach 10,000 ODI runs. He is the eighth fastest in the world to do so in 282 innings at an average of 38.01.
46 sixes were hit in the match, which is a world record in ODI cricket. The previous best stood with the India-Australia ODI at Bangalore in 2013, in which 38 sixes were hit. Rohit Sharma scored his first double ton in ODIs in the same match.
England hit 24 sixes which is the most by a team in an ODI innings. They crossed the 23 that was hit by West Indies in the first ODI of the series. West Indies hit 22 in their chase.
England’s total of 418 for six was the highest ODI total in the Caribbean.
807 runs were scored on Thursday, which is the most in West Indies and the third most in an ODI overall. The world record stands with the South Africa-Australia ODI at Johannesburg in 2006.
Jos Buttler hit 12 sixes in his 150-run knock – the most by an England batsman in an ODI.