Chris Gayle hammered his 23rd one-day international hundred to lead the West Indies to victory in their opening World Cup qualifier against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday, while Afghanistan collapsed to defeat by Zimbabwe.
Windies opening batsman Gayle struck 11 sixes in a blistering 91-ball 123 in Harare as the two-time World Cup winners racked up 357-4 in their Group A clash, with the UAE falling 60 runs short.
Afghanistan’s hopes of taking one of the last two places for next year’s tournament in England and Wales are hanging by a thread, following Sunday’s shock loss to Scotland with an agonizing two-run defeat by the hosts.
Elsewhere, Ireland and Scotland both made it two wins from two by seeing off Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong respectively.
The 38-year-old Gayle became only the third batsman in ODI history after Hashim Amla and Sachin Tendulkar to score hundreds against 11 different countries.
