Gayle smashes 12 ball 50 to equal world record

(MENAFN- Arab News) MELBOURNE: West Indies batsman Chris Gayle smashed fifty from 12 balls for the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League on Monday to match India's Yuvraj Singh's record for the fastest half-century in Twenty20 cricket.
Left-hander Yuvraj achieved the feat against England in a group match at the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 in South Africa smashing fast bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in one over.
Opening batsman Gayle plundered 21-year-old Adelaide Strikers bowler Greg West playing his second T20 match for 27 runs in the first over and hit the last four deliveries for six.
His seventh maximum took Gayle past his half-century as he deposited spinner Travis Head over the long-on boundary.
Head dismissed him five deliveries later for a 17-ball 56 with Gayle caught by wicketkeeper Tim Ludeman from a top edge.

England's Finn out of South Africa tour replaced by Plunkett
Steven Finn has been ruled out of the rest of England's tour of South Africa and will be replaced in the limited-overs squad by Liam Plunkett the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Monday.
The fast bowler complained of a side strain after the seven-wicket victory in the third test against the Proteas on Saturday that wrapped up the series. The fourth and final test starts in Pretoria on Friday.
England will make a choice between Chris Woakes who played in the first test Chris Jordan or uncapped Mark Footitt to start at Centurion.
Finn who has taken 113 wickets in 29 tests is in a race against time to be fit for the Twenty20 World Cup in India starting on March 8 although the ECB said it was confident he will be ready.
Plunkett will take Finn's place for both the five-match one-day international series against South Africa starting on Feb. 3 and the two Twenty20 matches that follow.
Plunkett 30 played in both limited-overs formats for England in 2015 and has appeared as an overseas professional for South Africa's Dolphins franchise.