Chris Gayle’s brutal power rendered Zimbabwe’s attack powerless as he smashed his way to the highest ever World Cup score, says Mark Butcher. Gayle – who had registered just one fifty in his previous 19 ODI innings – cut loose to score 215 off just 147 deliveries as the West Indies ran up 372-2, Marlon Samuels contributing 133no. The opener smote 16 sixes – the joint-highest ever in an ODI innings – as he registered the third highest ODI score ever and the best in the World Cup, eclipsing Gary Kirsten’s 188no for South Africa against UAE in 1996.“If ever Chris Gayle was going to show the ball-striking that we know he can produce, then it’s going to be against a bowling attack that at times was absolutely hapless,” reflected Butcher.“There was nothing they could do against it – they simply didn’t have the talent to be able to stop him. Once the ball started finding the middle of the bat on a regular basis, it was a case of ‘how many?’“There’s no better player to watch in full flight than Chris Gayle, simply because of the pure power of the man. He has an extraordinarily brutal way of hitting the ball, which renders bowlers powerless.“The confidence that the rest of the team will gain from the fact that it has not just been the guys at six, seven or eight that has dug them out of trouble, or lifted their scores past 300, will be enormous.“All of the rest of the teams in that group – and perhaps in the quarter-finals if they get there, which is looking increasingly likely – will be very, very concerned about the West Indies batting power.”Gayle was slow out of the blocks after the West Indies chose to bat, surviving a strong lbw shout off his first ball, bowled by Tinashe Panyangara.Umpire Steve Davis gave it not out and Zimbabwe’s subsequent review failed – the replay showing the decision should stay with the umpire’s call on the basis of height.Gayle then eased into his work, scoring just 12 runs off his first 18 balls – a fact that did not surprise Butcher.“If you follow Chris Gayle’s batting, particularly in Twenty20 cricket over the last one or two years, it is no shock that he takes a little while to get himself in,” he said.“He quite likes his partner at the other end to go out and take a few risks; he might chew up as many as 15-20 deliveries in a T20 game before he plays his first shot in anger and then he decides that he’s going to go big and play all of the expansive shots that we’ve seen.“The difference has been that in 50-over cricket he hasn’t been able to get in – he’s been taking his time but then getting out without making any runs.“Looking at the bowling attack you thought ‘if he gets himself in today, it could be the day’ - but it could have be all over after just one ball.“In real-time, looking head on, it looks as though he’s plumb lbw first ball but Gayle, batting against bowlers of very little pace, decided to take his guard outside of the crease; he took a stride forward and that’s why Steve Davis gave him the benefit of the doubt.”Gayles record-breaking knock came days after he was inadvertently caught up in a Twitter gaffe committed by West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dave Cameron.“He’d been poked by Dave Cameron – the president of the West Indies Cricket Board – who re-tweeted somebody suggesting that Gayle ought to be sent for retirement,” explained Butcher.“This innings was a great answer to that particular accusation. If you are being questioned by people who are running your board, there ought to be a little bit of a sting there.“I don’t think that Chris Gayle has lost the ability to play like that over the years – perhaps what has been questioned is his desire to do it on a regular basis for the West Indies in longer form cricket or whether it was earning the bucks around the world in Twenty20 cricket that was floating his boat.”Gayle shared a partnership of 372 – the highest in ODI history - with number three Marlon Samuels, whose 133no came off 156 balls and featured 11 fours and three sixes.Butcher said it was a curious innings, reflecting: “He tried to give Gayle as much strike as possible – while trying to show the power that he has.“But to end up playing 53 per cent of your deliveries as dot balls against a bowling attack of this type - and basically having a strike-rate of about 50 per cent up until beyond the end of the 35th over – was quite extraordinary.“He’ll turn round and say ‘look, I ended up with 133no and we scored over 360, where’s your problem?’”Watch highlights of West Indies v Zimbabwe on Sky Sports World Cup at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 8pm. 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With his new coach and six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker watching him during an official match for the first time, Djokovic appeared tentative early against the Slovakian player, who often appeared content to keep the ball in play. An early let-off for Indias batsmen At the start of the third day, the second new ball was only four overs old and, considering the help the England seamers got in the first hour of the previous days, it came as a surprise when Alastair Cook started with Mooen Ali from one end. The first few overs after a break, especially at the start of a new day, are critical from a batsmans perspective and Im sure both R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja would have also preferred facing Mooen instead of James Anderson in the morning.Rotation only for bowlers?Chris Woakes was the best bowler from both sides in Rajkot and even though he picked up a niggle, he was available for selection in Visakhapatnam. Cook mentioned at the toss in Visakhapatnam that Woakes has been rested under the rotation policy. Incidentally, Woakes has not looked the same bowler in Mohali. Could this be due to a loss of rhythm? Would England rest a performing batsman under the same rotation policy?The case for unpredictability The third ball of the 89th over in Indias innings, bowled by Woakes, was a bouncer. The fourth a fast offcutter that hit the inside edge of the bat. The fifth was a wide and full delivery, which Ashwin played and missed. While there is a lot of focus on discipline and pitching it around the same spot ball after ball, there is also merit in mixing things up quite radically once in a while, especially on flatter pitches. Unpredictability is a tactic worth exploring sometimes. Ashwins lightweight pads An inside edge on to Ashwins pads flew towards the empty point region. His leg guards are the ones without bamboo sticks and cotton inside, and therefore dont absorb the shock. They are much lighter than the ones used by most players (a single leg guard with bamboo sticks inside weighs more than a pair of foam-based leg guards) and allow a batsman to move faster. Since theyre lighter, they dont tire a batsman as much either. The flip side: one has to be careful withh bat-pads going faster and further, sometimes straight to fielders stationed a few yards away from the bat.dddddddddddd(Sachin Tendulkar used the same leg guards throughout his life. Virender Sehwag started using them but stopped it when he got caught and bowled to a seamer courtesy the extra bounce from the pads)Spin and the lack of it In the 10th over of Englands second innings, bowled by Ashwin, Cook was adjudged leg before to a ball that spun sharply after pitching. The England captain reviewed the decision and HawkEye confirmed that the ball pitched outside leg stump. While that ball did not dismiss Cook, it created doubt in his mind. He started playing for the spin and kept missing the ball that went straight after pitching. The delivery that got him out eventually also went straight, but Cook played for the spin and missed the line.Roots view at the non-strikers end At the non-strikers end, Joe Root stood close to the stumps instead of standing at the corner of the box. While that prevented him from taking a start, it did give him a good view of where the ball pitched and headed on for a leg-before appeal. Obviously it is impossible to get the umpires view, but Root did his best to get as close to it as possible to be able to offer the most accurate opinion on whether a decision should be reviewed or not.How boundaries help strike-rotation The England scoreboard almost came to a standstill in the phase when Ashwin and Jadeja were bowling in tandem. While the talk is always about taking singles, the fact is that if you cant hit boundaries, its highly unlikely you will be able to put the ball in gaps, too. 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