Chris Gayle, opener for the West Indies, reached the first score of 200 in Cricket World Cup history today.
OK, I’ll take it a step back for you.
The Cricket World Cup is an event that’s happening right now, and Chris Gayle, a cricket player for the West Indies, has hit the all-time record for highest score in a match.
…OK, I’ll take it back a step.
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Cricket is a sport, one of the oldest sports in the world. It’s played all over the world, but not really in the U.S.–it’s particularly popular in India. The sport is based on bat and ball play, and takes place on a field in periods of time called innings, in which each team is trying to score runs while the other team fields. It’s kind of an upside-down version of baseball, if that helps you.
For those who do know cricket, you’ll know that 200 is an extremely impressive score, and Gayle is the first player in World Cup history to reach the mark.
ESPN Stats & Info summed up Gayle’s historic day with this graphic:
Gayle, 35, reached the mark of 215 off 138 balls. The left-hander’s mark surpassed the long-standing record of 188, set by South Africa’s Gary Kirsten against the United Arab Emirates in 1996.
In addition to being the first to hit this extremely rare mark in World Cup play, it’s only the fifth time someone has achieved the 200 in any international match, and the first time the batsman who achieved it was not from India.
Amazingly enough, Gayle had actually been struggling recently, failing to even hit 100 runs since June 2013. Two days ago, Dave Cameron, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, caused a controversy by retweeting a fan’s tweet calling for Gayle to be dropped from the team.
Gayle’s combined score with teammate Marlon Samuels, 372, was also a record.
It’s like… well, no, I’m not going to try to compare it to any American sports. If you care about cricket, you know what all this means, and if you don’t, your mind won’t be changed. It’s always cool, though, when someone is at the top of their game, whatever that game is. Chris Gayle was at the top of his today.
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