Against Zimbabwe, Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels were jammin' Jamaican style

Anywhere in the world West Indies play, the DJ’s at the grounds see it as an opportunity to dust off their Bob Marley records and keep the crowds singing and swaying to the reggae tunes of world’s foremost Jamaican. It was no different at the Manuka Oval in Canberra today as two Jamaicans – Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels – were serenaded by Marley as they set the world record for the highest partnership for any wicket in ODI history. The two batsmen could very well have broken out in to jigs with “We’re jammin’, jammin’, And I hope you like jammin’, too” but the partnership was far from the easy feeling those words might conjure in one’s mind. It was awkward in the beginning with plenty of plays-and-misses and lucky reprieves. Samuels played an unusually cautious innings till very late in the piece, and Gayle only opened his shoulders after notching up his 22nd ODI century. As Dwayne Smith was cleaned up off the 2nd delivery of the Windies innings, the two gentlemen from Kingston got together. Gayle was in a prolonged run drought but Samuels had been in decent touch. Gayle was served a huge dollop of luck as a strong appeal for seemingly plumb LBW was not upheld and Samuels was dropped on 27. However, it was Gayle that emerged sooner of the two to set the tone for the innings, ignoring the several times he was beaten, to stroke at run a ball. Samuels seemed to descend into the rut that Gayle had just got out of and was dawdling along, striking at 50. [caption id=“attachment_2120411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Chris Gayle, left, and Marlon Samuels run through for a quick single. AP[/caption] As Gayle reached his first half century in 10 innings (including warm up matches) in 51 balls, Samuels seemed to be fighting invisible pitch demons and had snailed his way to 27 off 54 deliveries. The Zimbabwean bowlers weren’t the most threatening but stayed accurate for the most part and Samuels made them look like they were all the metronome from nearby New South Wales, Glenn McGrath. When Gayle put to bed his lack of a three figure score in his last 20 innings by asserting his imposing presence on the over-matched bowlers (in 105 balls), Samuels had sleepwalked to 56 in 105 deliveries, with just four knocks to the boundary. Even as the contrast between the two batsmen was getting starker by the minute, plenty of partnership records came down tumbling. First to go was the highest partnership for West Indies in any World cup, passing the 195 between Larry Gomes and Gordon Greenidge set in the 1983 world cup against Zimbabwe. Soon, they set the highest partnership for any wicket for West Indies surpassing the 258 runs accumulated by Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin against Bangladesh last year. Next, they put Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Darvid behind them as they surged ahead of the Indians’ effort of 318 for the 2nd wicket at the 1999 World Cup and soon were speeding past Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly’s 331, the previous highest for any wicket in an ODI. Gayle was bludgeoning hits over boundaries while Samuels kept content with turning the strike over to his fellow countryman. As Gayle swatted and slugged his way to 201, the second hundred taking only 33 deliveries, Samuels accumulated like an ant preparing for a long winter, trundling his way to 93 in 137 balls, in the same time. Once he reached his 8th ODI hundred, even he became extravagant and punished the already comatose Zimbabweans who were reeling from the upper cuts that Gayle had dealt them. By the time the tired shot by Gayle on the last ball of the innings found Elton Chigumbura, the partnership had realised 372 runs in 298 deliveries. Gayle had batted the entire 50 overs for his 215 and Samuels, all but two deliveries, for his 133. West Indies had a rough start and a rude awakening in their opening game of the 2015 World Cup when Ireland made easy work of 305-run chase. Since then, West Indies seem to be on the road to recovery when they easily defeated Pakistan. As the weary Samuels and Gayle made their way back to the pavilion to a standing ovation from their team mates, they could very well be humming another of Marley’s classics “Three little birds”. Don’t worry about a thing, ‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right