BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – West Indies captain Jason Holder spoke to members of the following the first Colonial Medical Insurance ODI against England. The home side made a record 360-8 off their 50 overs, but England replied with 364-4 off 48.4 overs to win by six wickets with eight balls to spare.
Audio for download from this media interaction: attached
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Chris Gayle marked his return to the Windies with a superb 135 off 129 balls. The big lefthander smashed 12 towering sixes to record his 24th ODI century. It took him to 9,862 career runs in 285 appearances. Gayle led the charge as the Windies as they hit 23 sixes to establish a new record in ODIs. His first 50 runs came off off 76 balls then he reached the landmark at a run-a-ball in the 35th over.
Wicket-keeper Shai Hope made 64 off 65 balls in a second-wicket partnership of 131 with Gayle. Darren Bravo chipped in with 40 off 30 balls, debutant opener John Campbell, 30 off 28 balls, while at the end Ashley Nurse hit 25 not out off just eight balls.
The total was also the West Indies highest-ever at the venue – surpassing the 312 against Sri Lanka, 16 years ago, and the side’s joint third-highest – tied with the mark against Pakistan in Karachi, over three decades ago.
Overall 724 runs were scored at a run rate of just under 7.4 runs per over on a superb batting surface. It was the highest run aggregate for an ODI in the West Indies. When England batted they were bolstered by centuries from opener Jason Roy (123) and Joe Rot (102) as they added 104 for the second wicket. Roy won the Colonial Medical Insurance Player-of-the-Match award.
“Credit to our batters I thought we played exceptionally well on what was a really good pitch, one of the best I have seen at Kensington Oval for a while. I thought Chris played a really good innings. He took a bit of time upfront, got himself set and then put pressure back on the spinners in the middle and forced Eoin Morgan to bring back the seamers back a bit earlier. I felt he held the innings together and gave other batters a chance to express themselves. England played well to chase down our target. We’re now 1-0 down so we know we have to bounce back on Friday and look to make it 1-1 before we head off to Grenada,” Holder said.
The second Colonial Medical Insurance ODI will be played on Friday at the same venue. First ball is 11am (10am Jamaica Time/3pm GMT).
Colonial Medical Insurance ODI Series Schedule
1st Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Wednesday, February 20
Kensington Oval, Barbados – England won by six wickets
2nd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Friday, February 22
Kensington Oval, Barbados
3rd Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Monday, February 25
Grenada National Stadium, Grenada
4th Colonial Medical Insurance ODI – Wednesday, February 27
Grenada National Stadium, Grenada
5th Colonial Medical Insurance ODI– Saturday, March 2
Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Saint Lucia
-CWI
