Hurricane Gayle blasts Windies to victory

CAPE TOWN: Chris Gayle blasted 77 off 31 balls as West Indies beat South Africa by four wickets in the first Twenty20 international at Newlands on Friday.
The big left-hander thrashed eight sixes and five fours in a brutal assault on the South African bowlers.
His innings included an extraordinary sequence during which he hit 52 runs off 11 balls — five sixes, five fours and a two.
After making only one run off the first six balls he faced, he reached his half-century off 17 balls.
“It’s a captain’s nightmare,” admitted South African skipper Faf du Plessis. “I thought we posted a really good total.”
Despite Gayle’s assault, there were only four balls to spare when the West Indies completed their win by passing their target of 166.
Leg-spinner Imran Tahir led the South African fightback, taking three for 28 in four overs, including the wicket of Gayle, who gloved an attempted reverse sweep to wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk.
Gayle was second man out with the total on 114 off the last ball of the 11th over.
At that stage it looked as though the tourists would romp to victory. But four more wickets fell before Kieron Pollard pulled David Wiese to the midwicket boundary off the second ball of the last over.
Earlier, Rilee Rossouw anchored South Africa’s total of 165 for four with an unbeaten 51, made off 40 balls with five fours.
Score Board
South Africa won toss
South Africa
R R Hendricks lbw b Cottrell 12
†M N van Wyk c Gayle b Holder 17
*F du Plessis c Sammy b Russell 38
R R Rossouw not out 51
D A Miller c Bravo b Cottrell 24
F Behardien not out 18
Extras (lb 2, w 3) 5
Total (4 wickets; 20 overs) 165
Did not bat: D Wiese, W D Parnell, K J Abbott, K Rabada, I Tahir
Fall: 1-30, 2-33, 3-79, 4-127
Bowling: Cottrell 4-0-33-2 (2w); Holder 4-0-20-1; Russell 4-0-43-1 (1w); Nurse 3-0-24-0; D J Bravo 3-0-26-0; Sammy 2-0-17-0
West Indies
D R Smith lbw b Imran 20
C H Gayle c van Wyk b Imran 77
M N Samuels c Rossouw b Imran 41
D J Bravo c Hendricks b Parnell 8
K A Pollard not out 8
A D Russell c Abbott b Parnell 6
†D Ramdin c Abbott b Wiese 2
*D J G Sammy not out 0
Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 1) 6
Total (6 wickets; 19.2 overs) 168
Did not bat: J O Holder, A R Nurse, S S Cottrell
Fall: 1-78, 2-114, 3-147, 4-154, 5-161, 6-164
Bowling: Abbott 4-0-30-0; Rabada 4-0-38-0; Wiese 2.2-0-20-1; Parnell 4-0-39-2; Imran (1w); Behardien 1-0-8-0
Result: West Indies won by 4 wickets
Series: West Indies lead the 3-match series by 1-0
Man of the Match: C H Gayle (West Indies)
Umpires: J D Cloete and S George. TV umpire: A T Holdstock. Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka)