Chris Gayle joins 7000-run club in his 100th Test

Modified Jun 12, 2014 13:10 IST

Chris Gayle completed 7000 runs in his 100th Test

Though he ended on the losing side, Chris Gayle, who played his 100th Test at Kingston, achieved another landmark in the 2nd innings. The 34-year-old became the 45th batsman overall, and 8th West Indian to score 7000 Test runs in his career.

Chris Gayle came into his 100th Test 67 runs short of the milestone. After New Zealand put 508 on the board, the Jamaican, playing on his home ground, put on a 60-run partnership with Kieran Powell after facing a lethal spell of swing bowling from Tim Southee. The left-hander braved the storm at the start, responding with a smile to many of his play-and-misses in the first innings.

After surviving the opening burst, Gayle freed his arms against the spinners, hitting 11 boundaries in his 125-ball 64, but fell 3 runs short of 7000 Test runs when Southee, quite deservingly, got the opener to edge one behind which finally carried.

In the 2nd innings, Gayle took 4 deliveries to cross the line, with back to back boundaries in 1st over. However, he survived only 2 more overs after that, edging one behind by Southee for the 2nd time in the match.

Chris Gayle hoped to score big in his 100th Test, but failed to keep that promise to much extent, as the hosts lost by 186 runs to fall 0-1 behind in the 3-Test series.