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Stat Focus #1 : Chris Gayle

Sunday, July 11 2004

Statistical Focus on...

Christopher Henry Gayle

Vital Stats:
Country of Origin: Jamaica
Cricketing Country/Team: West Indies
Batting: Left-handed; Attacking
Bowling: Right-arm off-spin; Defensive

Whether you're a fan or not, it can not be denied that Chris Gayle demands a place in any One Day International World XI at this point in his career. Yes, his shotty footwork and inconsistent Test match batting has kept such honourable mention distant for the Test form of the game, but Chris Gayle is a star in limited overs cricket.

The tall and powerful left-hander has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of the PWC ODI rankings both as a batsman and as an allrounder in the past couple of years. However, it was not always so easy.

Chris Gayle entered the West Indies senior team in the one-day outfit and would play seven (7) such matches before finally getting a Test birth. In those seven games he performed extremely modestly and indeed, score only 62 runs in his first 8 innings at One Day International level, for a disappointing average of 7.75. His bowling was a bit more effective in that time at 41.5 overs, 3 wickets for 187 runs - an average of 62.33 but economy of 4.47.

It was the innings after that horror run that Gayle scored his maiden half-century - 58 not out from 45 balls - against Zimbabwe in the Caribbean and began to find his feet (pardon the expression). Since his first 8 games and until his 100th match (played against England on Tuesday 6th July 2004), Gayle scored 3648 runs at a very creditable 43.43 per innings, whilst taking 84 wickets for 28.20 apiece.

Overall Gayle's stats read rather impressively. His 3710 runs (40.32) and 87 wickets (29.37) put him as the top-ranked allrounder in limited overs cricket today. With 9 centuries he's one of the best opening batsmen as well. Consider that his first hundred came in his 32nd game (152 versus Kenya) after he had scored 4 fifties. Since he has scored 8 hundreds in 68 games (67 innings) with 17 fifties - a 32% conversion rate. Over the last two years the record is even more impressive - 2229 runs at 49.53 (8 hundreds and 9 fifties) and 45 wickets at 30.84.

Bowling, Gayle's best analyisis to date came in the best of circumstances, a win against Australia. His figures read 10-0-46-5 and his victms included the likes of Lehmann (107), Symonds (48) and Michael Clarke (1). To date that performance remains his lone 5-wicket venture, but he also has 4-wicket tallies against Zimbabwe (4/24), New Zealand (4/54) and Pakistan (4/19).

With all these good-looking numbers, the question remains - is he a matchwinner? It really is a matter of opinion, but statistics dictate that Gayle has won the prestigious 'Man of the Match' award on 11 occasions (1 per 9 games) and has been crowned 'Man of the Series' 3 times. Further investigation shows a team record of 46 wins, 47 losses and 7 no-results when Chris Gayle is present. The best team win percentages (100%) come against Kenya (5-0 WI) and Bangladesh (4-0-2 WI). Against Kenya Gayle has 384 runs in 5 innings (76.8 average) and 6 wickets for 128 runs (21.33 average). However, his Bangladesh stats are far less convincing at 139 runs in 6 innings (23.16) and 3 wickets for 133 runs (44.33).

Matchwinner or not, Christopher Henry Gayle is an essential part of the West Indian one-day side and continues to build his game to the point where he will hopefully finally get the recognition he truly deserves. This building process will likely entail some technical work and Test macth application, but for now, with the games considered vastly different skills, Gayle stands among the best in world in One Day Internationals.

Posted by Liam