West Indies skipper Chris Gayle saluting the crowd after reaching his century in the first Digicel Cricket Test at Sabina Park last Friday.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle who led his team to a crushing innings and 23 runs win over England in the first Test of the Digicel Cricket Series 2009 at Sabina Park last Saturday is the Gleaner Sports personality of the week.

The victory was West Indies' first over England in nine years.

The 29-year-old Gayle featured in a match-winning 202-run second wicket stand with former captain Ramnaresh Sarwan to lift the West Indies to 392 all out and a 74-run first innings lead over the tourists. Both batsmen got centuries. Gayle scored his ninth Test ton, 104, his first as West Indies captain while Sarwan scored 107.

hard-hitting

The hard-hitting West Indies captain shelved his usual attacking style to fashion a patient innings. His knock lasted 337 minutes and came off 193 balls.

Gayle who bats left-handed and bowls right-arm offbreaks made his Test debut in 2000 against Zimbabwe and has a Test best of 317 against South Africa. In 76 Tests he has scored 5,213 runs at an average of 40.10. He has also taken 67 wickets at 39.94 runs apiece.