Gayle sets records rolling

Chris Gayle rediscovered his mojo in spectacular fashion on Tuesday with the first ever World Cup double-century to drive West Indies to a 73-run victory over Zimbabwe in their Pool B clash at Manuka Oval.

The opener's 215 was the highest individual innings in a World Cup match, the third highest in any one-day international, and formed the large part of a 372-run partnership with Marlon Samuels (133 not out), also a one-day record.

The dreadlocked 35-year-old slugged 16 sixes -- tying the one-day record -- as well as 10 fours in his 147-ball knock and even though he was dismissed with the last ball of the innings, West Indies were set fair at 372 for two.

Gayle's double-century came off just 138 balls and this innings was his first three-figure score since he made 109 against Sri Lanka at his Sabina Park home ground Kingston in June 2013.

"It's been a lot of pressure, the runs haven't been coming and this is the first time ever in my career," said Gayle during the mid-innings break.

"So many people wanted me to score runs and the messages kept coming in on Twitter and in the end I am glad to have given them something to actually cheer about," he added after his 22nd century in 226 ODIs.

Zimbabwe had their run-chase trimmed to 363 from 48 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method after rain briefly interrupted the contest and they initially made a good fist of it.

Brendan Taylor was unfortunate to be dismissed for 37 after a controversial third umpire referral and middle order batsmen Sean Williams (76) and Craig Ervine (52) also put in good shifts.

When Gayle (2-35) returned with the ball to dismiss Ervine and Stuart Matsikenyeri (19) with his off-spin, however, the writing was on the wall for Zimbabwe and they were all out for 289 in the 45th over.

After starting their campaign with an embarrassing upset at the hands of Ireland, West Indies look on course for a place in the quarterfinals after impressive wins over Pakistan and now Zimbabwe.

The match had started well for the Africans with Tinashe Panyangara bowling Dwayne Smith for a duck on the second ball and coming within a whisker of dismissing Gayle lbw in the same over.

Gayle, under fire after a poor run of form, made the most of the reprieve even if the stifling of his aggressive instincts meant his 22nd one-day century was by no means the most fluent of his career.

Once he reached the milestone with the first ball of the batting powerplay, however, he punished the Zimbabwean bowlers as only he can, smashing the ball around the ground almost at will.

He had brought up his 50 and century with singles but it was with a four that he reached the historic double century in the 46th over, the first non-Indian to achieve the feat.

Samuels, meanwhile, was caution personified for most of his 156-ball innings until finally cutting loose as he and Gayle hammered 152 runs off the last 10 overs.

Gayle's innings sparked a stream of plaudits on Twitter.

"Finally he's got a double hundred in one day cricket ! That doesn't surprise me who else than @henrygayle what a stage to get it tho," tweeted India's Yuvraj Singh.

His boss at Indian Premier League outfit Royal Challengers, Vijay Mallya said the innings was a perfect response to those who wanted him dropped.

"@henrygayle silences his critics and gives a fitting answer to all the recent comments on Twitter. Our big maan creates even more records," wrote Mallya, who also owns the Force India F1 team.

The record also did not go unnoticed in Japan, hardly a hotbed of international cricket.

"Japan Cricket must reluctantly admit that @henrygayle is making it quite difficult for us to get any work done this afternoon #WIvZIM," tweeted the Japanese Cricket Association.