Chris Gayle has signed for Somerset as an overseas player for a portion of the NatWest T20 Blast season.
The 35 year old West Indies batsman joins as an overseas player for a portion of the NatWest T20 Blast season.
Depending on how far his franchise progress into the Indian Premier League, he will join Somerset on either the 22 or 29 May and will be with the Club until 13 June.
“I’m excited about joining Somerset for the NatWest T20 Blast this year,” Chris Gayle said. “Many of the Club’s Members and supporters will know that I came close to playing for the County in 2012 and I have always felt that, if I was able to, I wanted to honour that commitment to Somerset. I’m looking forward to coming to Taunton and scoring some runs”.
Gayle can play in the following NatWest T20 Blast fixtures:
· May 22 Somerset v Sussex
· May 29 Essex v Somerset
· May 31 Somerset v Kent
· June 5 Somerset v Hampshire
· June 12 Somerset v Surrey
· June 13 Glamorgan v Somerset
Gayle, who nearly joined Somerset in 2012, has played in 45 T20 Internationals, scoring 1406 runs at an average of 35.15 with a highest score of 117. He has played in an additional 195 T20 matches, amassing 6975 runs at an average 42.01 with a top score of 175*. He can also boast 13 centuries and 45 half centuries in T20 cricket and 1 century and 13 half centuries in T20I’s.
His statistics are equally impressive in Test cricket where he has scored 7214 runs in 103 matches at an average of 42.18. His highest Test score came in 2010 when he made 333 against Sri Lanka in Galle. This was his second triple century and surpassed his previous best of 317 against South Africa in 2005.
The left hander’s One-Day record is also one to strike fear in to the hearts of bowlers. In 268 ODI’s he has scored 9160 runs at an average of 37.23 and recently made his highest ODI score of 215 in the West Indies World Cup win over Zimbabwe. This was the first time in World Cup history that a player had reached a double century.
His right arm off breaks are also a more than useful weapon.
Somerset Director of Cricket Matt Maynard said: “Signing a world class player of the quality of Chris Gayle is tremendously exciting for the Club. He will be a tremendous addition to our already extremely strong squad. He is an inspirational character and we are delighted to be bringing him to Somerset. We have a number of overseas players on the roster for the 2015 campaign and Chris’ arrival and registration will give us a number of options which we will look at as we approach each competition.”
James Buttler
As the editor of Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
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