Gayle thirsty for more victories

Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, is hoping his side will push on after they ended their seven month wait for a victory in international action. Gayle's men beat Zimbabwe by four wickets in Guyana in their second one-day international to square the five-match series at 1-1. It was their first success since they got the better of Bangladesh in a Twenty20 match in St Kitts last August, and Gayle was understandably happy to have ended the drought.

"This is a big relief," he said. "Hopefully, this is the first of many to come. "I must commend Zimbabwe about the way they have gone about their business in this series. "They have played some good cricket, and they have put us under a lot of pressure. "It wasn't an easy game, but I am happy that we rebounded, and we won this game. Hopefully, we can carry on for the remainder of the series." Gayle had led from the front as his 88 from 111 balls helped the hosts recover from being in trouble at 85 for four as they chased a target of 207 to win.

Zimbabwe appeared to be in control as the Windies slipped to 85 for four before Gayle was joined by Narsingh Deonarine, who hit an unbeaten 68, and their fifth-wicket stand of 83 was crucial as they made it home on 208 for six, with Darren Sammy hitting the winning runs with 13 balls to spare. Earlier, Elton Chigumbura had struck five fours in his 50 from 72 balls as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 206 in 49.5 overs.

The Zimbabweans' batting was dismantled by the left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, with a career-best performance of four for 43 from nine overs, and the fast bowler Kemar Roach, with three for 37 from 9.5 overs. "The ball started to turn [for our spinners], and it was also keeping low," Prosper Utseya, the Zimbabwe captain, said of the West Indies' innings. "But we just did not have enough runs on the board to keep up the pressure.

"We probably came up a little short on the batting side. We never got a partnership up front, and we kept losing wickets at key moments." The third match in the series is in Kingstown, St Vincent, on Wednesday. * With agencies