Gayle's Blown Out, Bring On The Hale Storm

So by now the cricket community and others all know the bravado portrayed by Chris Gayle and how his flourishing shots look effortless and aesthetically pleasing to any spectator.

There's a good ten years between the Englishman and the well accomplished West Indian but how do they compare when looking at they T20 and ODI debuts. 

The 35 year old, Gayle's first came about in 1999 when he played against India, he scored 1 run off of 8 balls, his strike rate was 12.50. Alex's ODI debut came earlier this year, he like Gayle face India he managed 40 runs off of 63 balls, 5 of them creeping away to the rope that surrounds the field. His strike rate was 63.49 but what do they both average? Gayle averages 37.33 where as Hales averages 19.83 but has only played a minute 6 matches compared to Chris's 258 games, Gayles highest score is 153* and Hales' is 42.

Looking at the T20's Chris Gayle's debut was in 2006 where he faced New Zealand he scored 10 runs off of 12 balls, 2 of them ran away to the boundary, his strike rate was 13.33 and he has an average of 32.60. So what did Alex manage? On his debut in 2011 he faced India once again, he scored 0 runs from 2 balls, hmmmm... But things got better, his average is 37.92 better than Gayles and his highest score is 116* 1 less than King Chris but he doesn't have that magic asterix above his highest score.

Could England have the next flawless talent amongst them? We'll it certainly looks that way when looking at the statistics but as we all know cricket is a funny game and shapes and moulds players in strange ways. He could be one of many one hit wonders or he could develop into an English miracle who could certainly save games for England in the ever so near future.

Helmets or Helpless:- In loving memory of Phil Hughes

During the duration of 2014 we have heard of a number of head and facial injuries that batsmen and wicketkeepers have faced whilst having balls that seem to reach the speed of light come towards them.

We all heard about Mark Boucher having to face eye surgery after the kukooborough nicked the wickets and unfortunately damaged his eye ending his career. There was Joe Root who faced a ball from Josh Hazelwood that got jammed inbetween his grill, splitting his lip where he later needed stitches. Craig Kieswetter also felt the wrath of the duke ball he again needed extensive surgery and may miss the 2015 season. Another Englishman facing the damaging effects of the cricket ball is Stuart Broad who was wearing the new sleek helmet but that didn't stop him needing
needing sticheshes and resembling someone who had just faught Mike Tyson.

Last but certainly not least is Phil Hughes who tragically lost his life late this year after facing a bouncer from 22 year old Sean Abbott unfortunately hitting Phil on a fatal are of his neck.

But what can the helmet boffins do? I mean some players such as Dhoni still don't wear head protection but neither did the recognisable greats that graced our presence a number of years ago. Should they be introducing a new design like the helmet that Hampshires Michael Carberry wears but would that make any difference due to the likes of Stuart Broad wearing the sleek and aerodynamic design. Do the cricket Gods just need to simply rethink policies and procedures. Or do the helmet geeks need to rethink the standard idea of a  helmet and come up with a new dynamic, safer blueprint.

So many questions that need to be answered and considered. But realistically can things really be changed that dramatically, we can't wrap all cricketers in cotton wool. Is it just the case of freak accidents that can't really be helped.

I'd just like the end of by saying my thoughts and everyone else's thoughts are firmly with Phil Hughes' family and friends but also with Sean Abbott. RIP Phil