Christopher Henry Gayle

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Statistics don't always tell the truth. In and out of the West Indies team, with an average nudging 35, it would be easy to under-estimate Chris Gayle. He is, in fact, more than capable of becoming an excellent Test match batsman. Naming the batsmen who have opened the batting in Test matches since Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes retired could occupy many a lazy hour but, in Gayle, the West Indies may have at least half of the next great partnership.

It is, of course, much too early to get carried away about a youngster who has yet to showcase his talent with anything approaching regularity. He may falter and fade, but there does appear to be a spark about the 22-year-old Jamaican.

A tall left-hander, Gayle is strong through the covers. He is a crisp, easy driver of the ball, hitting well on the up as well as dispatching half-volleys. He also hits powerfully through point, and is quick to spot the short ball. As his career has developed, Gayle has begun to score more fluently. He will always hit a large proportion of his runs in boundaries.

Gayle broke into the West Indies team in Toronto, with matches against Pakistan and India. He failed to pass 20 in five games. Similarly, he struggled in two matches in Sharjah. Fortunately for Gayle, he had an excellent Busta Cup. He averaged 56, and scored more than 200 more runs than his closest rival. Thanks to weight of runs and, to be objective, the weakness of the West Indies team, Gayle made his Test debut against Zimbabwe. He made 33, batting at number three, holding the first innings together as the West Indies were dismissed for less than 200.

In the tri-series with Zimbabwe and Pakistan, Gayle showed a wider audience his proficiency at strokeplay. He made 58 at better than a run-a-ball against Zimbabwe. It was an impressive, powerful innings, though concerns were raised when Gayle was clearly struggling later in the innings. It added weight to concerns about his health, after a scare the year before. He has not struggled since.

Gayle was dropped after the first Test with Pakistan, and made a duck in his only Test appearance in England. He batted well in the first-class matches on tour, though his performances in the ODIs were a little stodgy. He did not play an international match on West Indies' disastrous tour in Australia and once again had to rely on domestic runs to get back into the Test side. He made an unbeaten 208 in the Busta Cup match against West Indies B, putting on 425 with Leon Garrick, the highest opening stand in West Indies first-class history.

Such form ensured Gayle's selection for the home series with South Africa. Opening the batting with Wavell Hinds, he made a fluent 81, with a string of early off-side boundaries. From this knock, Gayle seems to have relaxed more in international cricket, and thus scored more quickly. He made three further scores into the forties, quick knocks where he could have capitalised on excellent starts. He made one half-century in the ODIs.

As West Indies moved on to tour Southern Africa, Gayle's good form continued. He hit two fifties in the Coca Cola Cup, and then scored his first Test century in Zimbabwe, showing that he is capable of making big scores in Tests as well as for Jamaica. He wasn't fazed by a bad umpiring decision which should have dismissed him on 96, and went on to make 175. His first Test century was soon followed by his first ODI ton, against the admittedly weak Kenya.

After an excellent one-day series, where he passed 50 three times, Gayle had an awful time in Sri Lanka. He only made one score in double figures, falling three times in a row without scoring. Chaminda Vaas seemed to have the measure of him, and it would leave Gayle once again battling for his place when West Indies toured Sharjah for the Test series with Pakistan.

He made the tour, hitting two typically aggressive half-centuries. Though his form in the Tests with India was average, he hit a match-winning 84 off 67 balls in an ODI. Against New Zealand, Gayle's magnificent 204 cemented his place in the side. He finished the series with consecutive fifties in the ODIs.