"I KNEW I HAD TO MAKE IT COUNT" - CAMPBELL ON HIS RECORD-BREAKING OPENING PARTNERSHIP
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.
“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,” he finished.
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.
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.