Port-of-Spain -- March 9, 2009 -- West Indies captain Chris Gayle hit a brave century on Sunday as the West Indies fought hard against England on the third day of the fifth and final Digicel Test Match at Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain.

On reaching his 10th Test century, Gayle was forced to retire hurt. He has a right hamstring strain and will have an MRI scan on Monday morning. He however said that he will bat again. Gayle’s unbeaten 100 led the West Indies to 349-4 in reply to England’s 546-6 declared.

“I don’t know how bad it is, but right now, I am feeling pretty decent. Occasionally things like this happen and I would let the doctor decide. I will be definitely batting again. Even if I am not needed, I am going to bat again. We have a match to actually win out there, so well see how things unfold,” Gayle said.

“I felt the twinge with my last two strides. On 99, you are always looking to put out that last extra effort to get the single to take you to triple figures. But it is just one of those things, and I have been in this situation before, but I do not want this to be a regular thing. I pulled this same hamstring before in Zimbabwe [November 2007], so I think I may have aggravated it a bit. But this will not stop me – I’ll be batting again.”

After Gayle departed left-handers Brendan Nash and Shivanrine Chanderpaul came together to push on the West Indies score. They have so far added 146 runs. Nash is on 70 not out and will be first looking to surpass his Test best of 74 and then look for his maiden century. Chanderpaul is on 52.

Gayle said the West Indies will be looking for more runs on Monday.

“I think we are in a pretty decent position to win this game. Once we can bat until tea, I am sure we can get a lead, and we can put England under a bit of pressure. We have avoided the follow-on. This was our first objective. But we still want to be positive. We cannot take anything for granted,” Gayle added.