Gayle stars with bat and ball as Windies win

Chris Gayle

CAVE HILL, Barbados, CMC – The outstanding Chris Gayle took centre stage with an exciting half-century in a smooth all-rounder performance as West Indies beat a UWI Select XI by 77 runs, to sweep their warm-up doubleheader at the 3W’s Oval here Thursday night.

Chris Gayle

Gayle cracked 62 from 42 balls as West Indies cruised to 175 for four off 20 overs after opting to bat first.

Rising star Johnson Charles hammered 46 off 39 balls while exciting all-rounder Andre Russell chipped in with a cameo 33 in the dying stages.

Opener Dwayne Smith suffered his second failure of the night when he fell for seven in the second over but Gayle and Charles combined to put on 100 from 73 balls.

The left-handed Gayle struck two fours and six sixes while Charles stroked three fours and two sixes.

Both batsmen fell within the space of 11 deliveries but Russell and Kieron Pollard (20) put on a hasty 51 from 25 balls for the fourth wicket.

Russell blasted two fours and three sixes in a lovely 15-ball cameo.

Gayle then grabbed three for 28 with his off-breaks and leg-spinner Samuel Badree, two for 13 to help restrict the UWI side to 98 all out off 17.3 overs.

Veteran left-hander Floyd Reifer, who led West Indies in two Tests during the players strike three years ago, top-scored with 31 from 20 balls.