Superb performances by Chris Gayle and Sunil Narine gave the West Indies a comfortable six-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the opening match of the tri-series, also involving India, at Kingston, Jamaica, on Friday.
Check out some statistical highlights from the Sabina Park match.
# Sunil Narine (4/40) recorded his fourth four-wicket or more haul in an innings - once each vs Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia. All four ODIs resulted in West Indian wins.
# Narine's tally of 35 wickets (ave.13.34) in 14 ODIs in West Indian wins is quite impressive.
# Ravi Rampaul (3/38) recorded his best bowling performance vs Sri Lanka in ODIs.
# Mahela Jayawardene's superb 52 off 52 balls is his 70th fifty in ODIs.
# Jayawardene and Tharanga were associated in a partnership of 62. They have amassed 521 in just five innings at an average of 104.20 for the first wicket in ODIs – their average is the highest amongst the Sri Lankan opening pairs with at least 500 runs in ODIs.
# West Indies, with seven consecutive wins at Kingston, equalling their best sequence, have won 22 out of 30 ODIs (lost seven and a no-result game) at this venue.
# Chris Gayle's first hundred vs Sri Lanka is his 21st century in ODIs. His magnificent 109 off 100 balls is his fifth century in the West Indies - one each vs New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka.
# Only Sachin Tendulkar (49), Ricky Ponting (30), Sanath Jayasuriya (28), and Sourav Ganguly (22) have registered more hundreds than Gayle.
# After recording 125 vs New Zealand at Kingston on July 7, 2012, Gayle's aforesaid innings is his first score of fifty or more in fifteen outings.
# With three hundreds at Kingston, Gayle established a record for most hundreds at this venue in ODIs, overtaking Shivnarine Chanderpaul's tally of two hundreds.
# Gayle received his 22nd Man of the Match award in ODIs - his first vs Sri Lanka.
# Gayle is the third batsman to complete 200 sixes or more in ODIs. The three players with most sixes in ODIs are Shahid Afridi (308), Jayasuriya (270), and Gayle (202).
# Angelo Matthews' unbeaten 55 off 77 balls is his first fifty vs West Indies - his 15th in ODIs.
# Kumar Sangakkara, in the course of his 17, has completed 11,000 runs for Sri Lanka in ODIs - his aggregate being 11006 at an average of 38.89 in 338 matches. His overall tally of 11,265 in ODIs includes 121 runs at an average of 40.33 for Asia XI and 138 runs for ICC World XI at an average of 46.00.
Image: Chris Gayle
Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images
