DUBLIN, Ireland – West Indies opener John Campbell spoke to CWI Media after his stunning, maiden One-Day International century helped the visitors to a huge victory over Ireland on Sunday.
The left-hander, in just his sixth match, made 179 off 137 balls with 15 fours and six towering sixes in the opening match of the Tri-Nation Series at Clontarf Ground. Campbell’s opening partner Shai Hope was equally brilliant in his 50th appearance and recorded a career-best 170 off 152 balls with 22 fours and two sixes.
It was the 4128th ODI and the pair established a new record for opening partnership – a monumental 365 – before they were separated in the 48th over. West Indies amassed 381-3 off 50 overs – their second highest total of all-time – behind 389 made against England at the Grenada National Stadium in February.
“I feel really great about my performance today. We had a slow start, it was not smooth sailing at the beginning, the pitch wasn’t the easiest to bat on… but once we got in and started to build a decent partnership, I knew I had to make it count,” said Campbell.
“Shai was great. He kept talking to me and I enjoyed every moment at the crease. It was a great way to start the tournament… a very good win for the team … the bowlers did an excellent job to limit them to under 200… and we will look to continue with this momentum in the other matches.”
The stand was just short of the all-time record of 372 – set by Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels against Zimbabwe in Canberra at the ICC Cricket World Cup four years ago. Campbell and Hope broke the previous highest opening stand of 304 between Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq set last year. They also erased the previous highest opening stand for West Indies of an unbroken 200 set 22 years ago by Stuart Williams and Shiv Chanderpaul.
In the second half of the match West Indies were led by off-spinner Ashley Nurse, who picked up career-best figures of 4-51 as the home side were bowled out for 185. He was well supported by pacer Shannon Gabriel (3-44) on his return to the white-ball format, and Kemar Roach who got 2-28 with the new ball.
West Indies will have a training session on Monday morning, before they face Bangladesh on Tuesday at the same venue. First ball is 10:45am (5:45am Eastern Caribbean Time/4:45am Jamaica Time).
Schedule of Tri-Nation Series
(all matches start 5:45am ECT/4:45am Jamaica)
- Sunday, May 5: West Indies beat Ireland by 196 runs– Clontarf
- Tuesday, May 7: West Indies vs Bangladesh – Clontarf
- Thursday, May 9: Ireland vs Bangladesh – Malahide
- Saturday, May 11: Ireland vs West Indies – Malahide
- Monday, May 13: West Indies vs Bangladesh – Malahide
- Wednesday, May 15: Ireland vs Bangladesh – Clontarf
- Friday, May 17: The Final – Malahide, Dublin
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