Cricket: Chris Gayle hitting form ahead of Black Caps series

Chris Gayle has the potential to pepper the Cobham Oval crowd over the next few days. PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

Fans will be torn about which Chris Gayle turns up to Cobham Oval next Wednesday.

From a Black Caps-supporting perspective, a quick dismissal of one of the world's most destructive batsman would be ideal in the quest for victory.

However, watching him belt the ball to all corners of the crowd is a salivating prospect.

Gayle is coming into the tour in supreme form. He has hit two centuries in his past three T20 outings.

Across the two innings of 126 and 146, both unbeaten, Gayle has hit 32 sixes.

The innings of 146 included a world record 18 sixes and led his Rangpur Riders to a comfortable victory in the Bangladesh Premier League final.

With the re-introduction of the Tui Catch a Million promotion, part-time pundits will be hoping a repeat of his heroics is on the cards.

Gayle, who averages 37.42 across 273 ODIs for 9394 runs, is the main drawcard for Cobham Oval's first international fixture since 2012.

The average climbs to 39.69 in 27 clashes with the Black Caps, while he holds a handy bowling mark of 30.19 runs per wicket.

His ODI record includes 22 centuries with a high score of 215 and 252 sixes, good enough for third in the history of the format (behind Pakistan's Shahid Afridi on 351 and Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya with 270).

Gayle also shares the record of the most sixes in an ODI innings with 16, scored in his 215 against Zimbabwe.

His last outing in New Zealand was at Westpac Stadium in 2015 when his 33-ball 61 (which included eight sixes) wasn't enough to beat New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup quarter-finals.

Gayle hadn't played ODI cricket for two and a half years before he returned to the fold in their tour of England, averaging 43.25 at a strike rate of 125 in their 4-0 series defeat.

Gayle could potentially play in two fixtures on Cobham Oval as the West Indies play a warm-up fixture against a New Zealand XI on Saturday, where Northlander Henry Cooper has a chance to impress against an international bowling attack.

With Gayle joining the West Indies in New Zealand with a host of other big names including his aggressive opening partner Evin Lewis, middle order batsman Marlon Samuels and left arm off-spinner Nikita Miller, it would make sense for those coming to the country to get an innings under their belt to acclimatise.

But given Gayle's strong recent form he may give the match a miss - although nothing is confirmed yet.

The West Indies' match against the New Zealand XI starts at 11am on Saturday.

NZ XI: Jack Boyle (Canterbury), Henry Cooper (ND), Bharat Popli (ND), Sean Solia (Auckland), Fraser Colson (c) (Wellington), Michael Barry (Auckland), Mark Craig (Otago), Aniket Parikh (Auckland), Andrew Morrison (wk) (Auckland), Raja Sandhu (Auckland), Angus McKenzie (Auckland), Michael Rae (Otago).

West Indies: Jason Holder (captain), Jason Mohammed, Ronsford Beaton, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Kyle Hope, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Nikita Miller, Ashley Nurse, Rovman Powell, Marlon Samuels, Kesrick Williams.