St John’s, Antigua – President of the West Indies Cricket Board Dr Julian Hunte sent congratulations to Chris Gayle on his historic innings of 333 against Sri Lanka.
Following is the text of the letter Dr Hunte sent to Gayle:
It fills me with pride to send you heartfelt congratulations on your historic innings of 333 against Sri Lanka at Galle.
Congratulations firstly on achieving your highest individual score and one which propelled the West Indies to 580 allowing for a declaration.
Your innings was an epic feat of aggressive resilience and I salute you on behalf of the West Indies Cricket Board and all the people of the Caribbean for whom you are a cricketing ambassador.
As you know, not only is your score the highest by a West Indian against Sri Lanka and the highest by a West Indian in the sub continent but it now holds the record for the highest individual score by a West Indian batsman outside the Caribbean, surpassing the great Viv Richards’ 291 against England at The Oval in 1976.
Your monumental and historic innings has the Caribbean abuzz and has lifted the spirit of the people all across the region and the Diaspora. Such is the impact of cricket on the very lives and psyche of our people.
In the past two years you have shown your maturity as a batsman and a leading member of the West Indies team. Your statistics speak for themselves and this innings follows the two great ones you played against New Zealand and Australia.
I encourage you to continue to strive for excellence and bring joy and pleasure to the people of the Caribbean as we all play our respective roles in raising the profile and status of our beloved West Indies cricket.
Bat on Chris. Bat for the team and bat for our people.
-ENDS-
