Yet another dazzling Brian Lara hundred carried him to the top of an all time West Indies batting list for the second time in successive matches at the Queen's Sports Club yesterday.
But the most significant performance in an imposing, if Duckworth-Lewis determined, West Indies' victory by 51 runs in the first one-day international against Zim-babwe was unequivocally Chris Gayle's unbeaten 153.
Lara's 113, from 82 balls, with three sixes and 15 fours, and his partnership of 176 from 26.2 overs with Gayle was the basis of the West Indies' second highest total in ODIs, 347 for six from the 50 overs. It also restored Gayle to the form with which he so annihilated Zimbabwe when he was last here two years ago, but which had so starkly eluded him this time.
The two, with help mainly from Ricardo Powell (17 off eight balls), were responsible for the 111 added off the last ten overs.
Gayle, with Powell, ensured the last five yielded 65.
Zimbabwe were never realistically in the match after that although Yusi Sibanda, their young opener, and the experienced Craig Wishart, restored some pride with a third wicket partnership of 110 from 21.3 overs.
The clear threat of rain altered the West Indies game plan so that captain Lara prematurely used his spinners to rush through the 25 overs necessary to constitute a match as ominous clouds hovered over the ground.
As it was, the rain did not arrive until the fifth ball of the 34th over when Zimbabwe were 173 for three.
It abated enough for the covers to be removed and a restart ordered.
But the rain came again before a ball could be bowled, leaving Zimbabwe 51 short of a revised goal of 224 under the Duckworth-Lewis met-hod.
Lara's century was his 18th in such matches, sending him past Desmond Haynes as the most by a West Indian in the shorter game.
In the second Test here ten days ago, he had overhauled Viv Richards as the leading West Indian scorer in Tests with his 191 and he needs only another 302 runs to dislodge Haynes from atop the ODI register.
Lara's sheer class has been obvious since he was a boy. His current form and commitment were firmly established after he was reinstated to the captaincy last March. Since then, this was his sixth threefigure innings in both forms of the game.
It has been different for Gayle.
In a country where, two years ago, the tall left-handed Jamaican first confirmed himself as an opener of destructive potential, he has fought his own self-doubts this time, managing only 111 runs in seven previous innings.
The five one-day internationals that precede the patently tougher assignment of four Tests and five oneday internationals in South Africa offered him the chance to put things right. He needed a few tentative overs on a hot, sunny morning after Lara won the toss to heed coach Gus Logie's advice to be true to his natural game of strokeplaying dominance.
Three boundaries from the first over of first change mediumpacer Gary Brent got him going. He simply became more and more decisive, finishing with the flourish of a six and three fours in the 48th over from the pacer, Andy Blignaut.
He raced past partner Wavell Hinds who was 28, to his 43, when he nicked a catch to the wicketkeeper off Blignaut at 77 off the last ball of the 16th over.
It was an ideal platform on which Gayle and Lara would build.
They set out with comparative diligence, Lara especially quick to pounce on anything that offered a scoring opportunity and finding the boundaries with his uncanny sense of placement.
Gayle lingered 21 balls in the 40s before arriving at 50 from 76 balls with ten fours. Lara's 50 required only 54 balls, with six fours.
Their acceleration could be measured by their subsequent landmarks as Zimbabwe's bowlers wilted in the face of the onslaught, in spite of the noisy support of a distinctly multiracial crowd of over 6,000.
According to local officials, it was the biggest at the Queen's Sports Club since England's visit eight years ago.
Gayle raised his second 50 from 58 balls with a six and two more fours. His third that carried him past his 150 needed just 24 balls and he did it with a further six and seven fours.
Lara was as unstoppable as always once in top gear.
He hastened past Gayle in the 80's and raised his historic hundred with his partner still eight short. It came from 77 balls with two long sixes down the ground in the same over from leftarm spinner Ray Price. The second half of it required only 23 balls.
Craig Wishart's direct hit of the bowler's stumps ran him out off the second ball of the 42nd over to precipitate a wobble in which four wickets went for 36 in 3.1 overs.
Ramnaresh Sarwan was run out without scoring attempting a second on an overthrow.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul got another dubious lbw verdict to add to his two in the second Test. And Marlon Samuels was stumped off the keeper's pads on his second ball after swinging his first over midwicket for six.
Powell lashed 17 from eight balls, including his mandatory six, and Gayle ended with all guns blazing as the West Indies finished only 13 short of their all time ODI high, 360 for four against Sri Lanka in the 1987 World Cup.
Zimbabwe were left to chase more than they could reasonably expect to make and Gayle confirmed his Man of the Match award with the wickets of Trevor Gripper and Mark Vermuelen to successive balls in the 11th over.
Once the 25 overs were exhausted, Lara gave Ravi Rampaul, the 19-year-old fast bowler, his first bowl on debut. It proved a chastening experience as he failed to find the proper length and was lashed for 38 from his four overs.
He will have other chances to make good as the series goes on. He need only look to Gayle to realise how quickly struggle can turn to success.