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A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred; abbreviated c.) is one hundred consecutive years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages (e.g. "the 7th century AD/CE").

Start and end in the Gregorian Calendar[link]

According to the Gregorian calendar, the 1st century AD/CE started on January 1, 1 and ended on December 31, 100. The 2nd century started at year 101, the 3rd at 201, etc. The n-th century started/will start on the year (100×n)-99 and ends in 100×n . A century will only include one year, the centennial year, that starts with the century's number (e.g. 1900 is the final year in the 19th century).

1st century BC and AD[link]

There is no "zeroth century" in between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. Also, there is no year 0 AD.^[1] The Julian calendar "jumps" from 1 BC to 1 AD. The first century BC includes the years 100 BC to 1 BC. Other centuries BC follow the same pattern.

Dating units in other calendar systems[link]

Besides the Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar, the Aztec calendar, and the Hindu calendar have cycles of years which are used to delineate whole time periods; the Hindu calendar, in particular, summarizes its years into groups of 60, while the Aztec calendar considers groups of 52.

Centuries in astronomical year numbering[link]

Astronomical year numbering, used by astronomers, includes a year zero (0). Consequently, the 1st century in these calendars may designate the years 0 to 99 as the 1st century, years 100 to 199 as the second etc. However, in order to regard 2000 as the first year of the 21st century according to the astronomical year numbering, the astronomical year 0 has to correspond to the Gregorian year 1 BC.

Alternative naming systems[link]

In Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Finnish, centuries are typically not named ordinally, but according to the hundreds part of the year, and consequently centuries start at even multiples of 100. For example, Swedish nittonhundratalet (or 1900-talet), Danish and Norwegian nittenhundredetallet (or 1900-tallet) and Finnish tuhatyhdeksänsataaluku (or 1900-luku) refer unambiguously to the years 1900–1999. The same system is used informally in English. For example, the years 1900–1999 are sometimes referred to as the nineteen hundreds (1900s). This is similar to the English decade names (1980s, meaning the years 1980–1989).

See also[link]

• List of centuries
• Millennium
• Decade
• Lustrum

Notes[link]

References[link]

• The Battle of the Centuries, Ruth Freitag, U.S. Government Printing Office. Available from the Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250- 7954. Cite stock no. 030-001-00153-9.

External links[link]

Look up century in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle at the Docklands, 2005
Personal information
Full name	Christopher Henry Gayle
Born	(1979-09-21) 21 September 1979 (age 32) Kingston, Jamaica
Nickname	Gayleforce,GayleStorm
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right arm offbreak
Role	All-Rounder
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut (cap 232)	16 March 2000 v Zimbabwe
Last Test	5 December 2010 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 97)	11 September 1999 v India
Last ODI	23 March 2011 v Pakistan
ODI shirt no.	45
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1998–2008, 2010 –	Jamaica (squad no. 333)
2005	Worcestershire
2008–2010	Kolkata Knight Riders
2009–2011	Western Warriors
2011–	Royal Challengers Bangalore
2011–	Sydney Thunder
2012–	Barisal Burners
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	91	228	166	294
Runs scored	6,373	8,087	12,294	10,526
Batting average	41.65	39.06	45.03	39.72
100s/50s	13/33	19/43	30/59	22/59
Top score	333	153*	333	153*
Balls bowled	6,857	6,936	12,247	9,074
Wickets	72	156	131	213
Bowling average	41.59	35.08	38.67	32.14
5 wickets in innings	2	1	2	1
10 wickets in match	0	n/a	0	n/a
Best bowling	5/34	5/46	5/34	5/46
Catches/stumpings	85/–	99/–	144/–	125/–
Source: Cricinfo, 27th May 2012

Christopher Henry "Chris" Gayle (born 21 September 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who plays international cricket for the West Indies."Chris Gayle". http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/51880.html.  He captained the West Indies' Test side from 2007 to 2010. He plays domestic cricket for Jamaica, and has also represented Worcestershire, the Western Warriors and the Kolkata Knight Riders. He is currently signed with Royal Challenger Bangalore in the Indian Premier League. Gayle represents the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and the Barisal Burners in the Bangladesh Premier League. He is one of only four players who have scored two triple centuries at Test level: 317 against South Africa in 2005, and 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010.

Career[link]

Chris Gayle played for the West Indies at youth international level prior to making his first-class debut aged 19 for Jamaica. He played his first One Day International 11 months later, and his first Test match 6 months after that. Gayle, who normally opens the innings when he plays for the West Indies, is a destructive batsman who is most effective playing square of the wicket. In July 2001, Gayle (175), together with Daren Ganga (89) established the record for opening partnerships at Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo when they put on 214 together against Zimbabwe.

However, generally speaking he had a slow start to his international career, but invigorated it in 2002, ending the year with three centuries against India in November and becoming the third West Indian to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year, along with Vivian Richards and Brian Lara. He is one of only six players in One Day International history to have three or more scores of 150. In 2005, Gayle was dropped for the first Test against South Africa along with six other players following a dispute over sponsorship issues (see below). He returned for the second test but had a poor series until the fourth Test, where he made a match-saving 317. It was the first ever triple century against South Africa and up until Mahela Jayawardene made 374, it was the highest individual Test score against them.

In August 2005, Gayle joined Worcestershire for the rest of the English season, playing eight matches. He made two half-centuries in three first class matches and two half-centuries in five one-day matches, and won one Man of the Match award in the one-day National League. However, Worcestershire were relegated after Gayle made 1 in the final match against Lancashire. Gayle was named Player of the 2006 Champions Trophy, where the West Indies nearly defended the title which they won in 2004, being defeated in the final by Australia. Gayle scored three centuries and totaled 474 runs, 150 more than any other batsman, and also took eight wickets in as many matches. Gayle, in keeping with the rest of the West Indies team, had a poor World Cup in 2007. He recorded a series of low scores; the one exception being a blistering 79 off 58 balls against England in the West Indies' final match.

On 17 December 2009 in the Australia v West Indies 3rd Test Chris Gayle scored the fifth fastest century in Test match history. He reached the century in just 70 balls. However he was shortly after dismissed for 102 runs. This feat included a flurry of runs thanks to some big hitting sixes. One of the sixes hit the Lillee Marsh stand's roof in a monstrous hit that was estimated by commentator, Ian Healy, to be approx 140 metres long. On 16 November 2010, he became the fourth cricketer to score two triple centuries in Test cricket after Donald Bradman, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag.^[2]

Twenty20[link]

Gayle set the record for the highest innings in a Twenty20 International, scoring 117 against South Africa in the first match of the 2007 World Twenty20.^[3] The innings was the first century in international Twenty20 cricket and made him the first batsman to score a century in each of international cricket's three formats.^[4] The record stood unmatched until 19 February 2012, when South Africa's Richard Levi scored 117n.o. against New Zealand; Cricinfo recognised Levi as having broken the record outright, because a not out innings is ranked above a dismissal.^[5]

In the semi-final match of the 2009 World Twenty20 against Sri Lanka, he became the first international player to carry his bat through the entire innings in this format of the game as well. In April 2008, Gayle was auctioned by the franchise Kolkata Knight Riders of the Indian Premier League, but missed the opening games due to a Sri Lanka tour to the Caribbean. When he finally joined the team, he missed out on the action due to a groin injury he picked up during that tour. Afterwards, he left to join the West Indies team for a home series against Australia, therefore not playing in the inaugural version of the IPL at all. On 1 July 2009, Gayle signed with the Western Australia Warriors for the Australian Domestic Twenty20 tournament known as the Big Bash for the 2009–10 season.

He played in the second IPL competition in early 2009, arriving for an away Test series against England very late, earning criticism about his commitment.^[6] His Test series went poorly, and the West Indies went on to lose both the Test and ODI series. Gayle, however, went to on score a match winning 88 in the first official match of the 2009 Twenty20, in a surprise victory over Australia.^[7]

In 2011, after being left out of the initial part of the West Indies T20 and one-day home series against Pakistan, Gayle opted to join the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League.^[8] In his first game against his previous team Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored 102 off 55 balls, hitting 10 fours and 7 sixes.^[9] On May 6, 2011, he scored another century, 107 off 49 balls against the Kings XI Punjab, which included 10 fours and 9 sixes.^[10] In the next match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, he scored 37 runs in one over, which included 3 sixes, 3 fours and a no ball which was hit for a six.^[11][12] Although many people cite him as having hit the over for 37, one run was awarded as an extra due to the no ball. He can therefore be said to have hit 36 off an over which went for 37. Gayle won the Orange Cap Award for scoring the most runs in the tournament amassing 608 runs in 12 matches.^[13] He was instrumental in many victories for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and received five man of the match awards and also the player of the tournament award for his performances.^[14] In the 2011 Champions League Twenty20, Chris Gayle was the second highest run-scorer in the competition, behind David Warner, with 257 runs from 6 matches at an average of 42.83 and a top score of 92, and was one of the star players.^[15]

Following his prolific performances and the rubber-stamp being stamped that he is the ultimate pinch-hitter, Gayle was signed by Zimbabwean franchise Matabeleland Tuskers, for the 2011-12 Stanbic Bank 20 Series.^[16] As Gayle later recalled it was valuable practice ahead of the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash, where he had signed for the Sydney Thunder.^[17][18] Gayle hoped his first appearance in the tournament was a success, and he gave the spectators something to cheer about. Gayle was the second West Indian to be signed in the event, after the legendary Brian Lara had signed for Southern Rocks the previous season.

Gayle had tremendous success in that tournament. He was the leading run-scorer in that series with 293 runs, a top score of 109, and an average over 50. He was also the best batsman of the tournament.^[19] Ironically, the only century Gayle scored in the event ended in defeat as Mid West Rhinos's Brendan Taylor's outstanding 75* outlasted his team.^[20] The Tuskers could not win the tournament as the were overpowered by Mashonaland Eagles's Ryan ten Doeschate's brilliant 121* off 58 and despite Gayle scoring a blistering half-century, it was not to see his home through.^[21]

Gayle plays for Barisal Burners at the Bangladesh Premier League, and has scored two dominating centuries at more than double per ball.^[22]

In the 2012 IPL season, Gayle hit the most sixes (59)^[23] and was nominated for the orange cap for making 733 in 15 matches. ^[24].

List of Twenty20 centuries[link]

Chris Gayle holds the record for most centuries in Twenty20 cricket (8). Here is the list of all his Twenty20 hundreds

Controversies[link]

Despite being regarded as a calm, cool cricketer,^[26] In 2005 Gayle was involved in the dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board and a number of players over sponsorship issues. These players had personal sponsorship deals with Cable and Wireless, who used to sponsor West Indian cricket. However, since the West Indies had recently become sponsored by Cable and Wireless' rivals Digicel the West Indies Cricket Board demanded the players dropped their Cable and Wireless deals. When the players refused to back down, the West Indies Cricket Board dropped them for the first Test against South Africa.^[27] Gayle later cut his deal with Cable and Wireless and rejoined the side for the second Test. He was charged with conduct contrary to the spirit of cricket during a Test against New Zealand in March 2006, but was subsequently found not guilty.^[28] Later that year, during October's Champions Trophy tournament in India, he was fined 30 percent of his match fee after repeated verbal exchanges with the Australian batsman Michael Clarke.^[29] He also publicly criticised the West Indies Cricket Board during the 2007 tour of England which led to an official reprimand and warning.^[30]

Gayle also received criticism in early 2009 during West Indies' tour of England, where he commented that he did not want to captain the West Indies anymore given the pressures involved, and that he "wouldn't be so sad" if Test cricket was superseded by Twenty20 cricket in the future.^[6] From the West Indies, both Viv Richards and Gary Sobers criticised Gayle's comments, as did opposite number Andrew Strauss.^[31] Gayle later commented that his statement had been quoted out of context, according to Julian Hunte, President of the West Indies Cricket Board.^[32] In an interview with Michael Atherton at the conclusion of a West Indies defeat in their tour of England, Gayle stated that he was not going to resign the captaincy.^[33]

In April 2011 Gayle criticised the West Indies Cricket Board and coach Ottis Gibson and has not played for the team since. On April 6, 2012, Gayle and the WICB reached an understanding that paves the way for the former West Indies captain to return to the national team. He hasn't played cricket for the West Indies since March 23 in the World Cup quarter-final against Pakistan.^[34]

Player statistics[link]

An innings-by-innings breakdown of Gayle's Test match batting career, showing runs scored (red bars) and the average of the last ten innings (blue line).

Test centuries[link]

The following table illustrates a summary of the Test centuries scored by Chris Gayle.

• In the column Runs, * indicates being not out.
• The column title Match refers to the Match Number of his career.

Test Centuries of Chris Gayle[35]
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	175	10	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	2001	Won
2	204	23	New Zealand	St. George's, Grenada	National Cricket Stadium	2002	Drawn
3	116	36	South Africa	Cape Town, South Africa	Newlands	2004	Drawn
4	107	37	South Africa	Centurion, South Africa	SuperSport Park	2004	Lost
5	141	42	Bangladesh	Gros Islet, St Lucia	Beausejour Cricket Ground	2004	Drawn
6	105	47	England	London, England	The Oval	2004	Lost
7	317	50	South Africa	St. John's, Antigua	Antigua Recreation Ground	2005	Drawn
8	197	75	New Zealand	Napier, New Zealand	McLean Park	2008	Drawn
9	104	76	England	Kingston, Jamaica	Sabina Park	2009	Won
10	104	80	England	Port of Spain, Trinidad	Queen's Park Oval	2009	Drawn
11	165*	84	Australia	Adelaide, Australia	Adelaide Oval	2009	Drawn
12	102	85	Australia	Perth, Australia	WACA Ground	2009	Lost
13	333	89	Sri Lanka	Galle, Sri Lanka	Galle International Stadium	2010	Drawn

One Day International Centuries[link]

One Day International Centuries of Chris Gayle[36]
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	152		Kenya	Nairobi, Kenya	Simba Union Ground	2001	Won
2	103	54	India	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	2002	Won
3	100*	99	India	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	2002	Won
4	101	01	India	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	2002	Lost
5	119	68	Kenya	Kimberley, South Africa	De Beers Diamond Oval	2003	Won
6	153*	79	Zimbabwe	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	Queens Sports Club	2003	Won
7	112*	83	Zimbabwe	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2003	Won
8	152*	88	South Africa	Johannesburg, South Africa	The Wanderers Stadium	2004	Lost
9	132*	100	England	London, England	Lord's	2004	Won
10	132	116	South Africa	Bridgetown, Barbados	Kensington Oval	2005	Lost
11	124	124	Pakistan	Gros Islet, St Lucia	Beausejour Cricket Ground	2005	Lost
12	123	134	South Africa	Bridgetown, Barbados	Kensington Oval	2007	Lost
13	104*	145	Pakistan	Harare, Zimbabwe	Harare Sports Club	2009	Won
14	101	149	England	Ahmedabad, India	Sardar Patel Stadium	2006	Lost
15	133*	150	South Africa	Jaipur, India	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	2006	Won
16	110*	186	Canada	King City, Canada	Maple Leaf Cricket Club	2008	Won
17	113	187	Pakistan	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	2008	Lost
18	122	189	Pakistan	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Sheikh Zayed Stadium	2008	Lost
19	10	190	New Zealand	Napier, New Zealand	McLean Park	2008	Lost

Twenty20 International Centuries[link]

Twenty20 International Centuries of Chris Gayle[37]
#	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	107		South Africa	Johannesburg, South africa	The wanderers Stadium	2007	lost

Notes[link]

References[link]

• 75 Years of West Indies Cricket 1928–2000 by Ray Goble and Keith AP Sandiford ISBN 1-870518-78-0

External links[link]

• Player profile: Chris Gayle from CricketArchive
• Player profile: Chris Gayle from ESPNcricinfo