ST. JOHN'S, Antigua - West Indies palyers Chris Gayle and Jerome Taylor have been named among the winners of the ESPN Cricinfo awards for 2009.
Gayle, the 30-year-old inspirational captain and powerful left-handed opener, won the award for the Best T20 Internationals Innings – his amazing 88 off 50 balls against Australia in the ICC T20 World Championship first round match at the Oval in London on June 6. Gayle hit six boundaries and six sixes – the best being an unforgettable front foot pull off Brett Lee which went completely out of the ground.
The 25-year-old Taylor took the award for the Best Bowling Performance in a Test Innings for his outstanding spell of 5-11 off 9 overs against England in the first Digicel Test at Sabina Park in Jamaica on February 7, 2009. England were bowled out for 51 and the West Indies won the match, the Digicel Series and the Wisden Trophy.
Gayle said he was pleased to win the award and was also full of praise for Taylor, who is recovering from injury.
Gayle said: “I remember my innings quite well. It was one of those things where, as a batter, you just go with the flow and express yourself to the fullest. We were up against a good team and they had a strong bowling line-up. To get that kind of innings was quite pleasing. It helped us to win the match and we went on to do pretty well in the Tournament, reaching the semi-finals. I was batting with Andre Fletcher and he was giving good support so we decided to go for our shots … especially in T20 cricket, you have to back yourself and your instincts. I want to thank all my team-mates and members of the team who supported me.”
On Taylor’s performance, Gayle said: “I also want congratulate Jerome on his award. It was a great bowling performance and did a lot for the team, and the people of the West Indies that day. I called on him to give us a good opening spell and he did just that. He went on to go right through the England batting and everyone was quite happy at the end when we won that match by quite a big margin.”
In announcing Taylor award Cricinfo noted: In scenes reminiscent of Curtly Ambrose’s demolition job at Trinidad in 1994, the tourists crumbled to 51 all out and in the blink of an eye West Indies had secured their first Test victory against England since 2000, by an innings and 23 runs. It came almost out of nowhere, for the Test had moved along slowly with the two first innings using up more than three days.
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