John Campbell made a splendid century to highlight the opening day of the West Indies four-day match on Monday at the Coolidge Cricket Ground. The left-hander top-scored with 129 as the Roston Chase XI reached 280-7 at the close.
Resuming on Tuesday morning will be Imran Khan on three not out and with him Jermaine Blackwood on 18 not out.
Campbell dominated the bowling and hit 15 fours and three sixes – two from audacious reverse sweeps off left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul and the other a lofted drive from left-arm spinner Kavem Hodge.
Overall, Campbell faced 253 balls and batted for 325 minutes before he was caught by Paul Palmer running back from midwicket as he tried to sing a ball from off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall into the on-side.
Campbell started slowly against some accurate pace bowling from Jayden Seales (3-42) and left-arm swing bowling from Preston McSween (2-40). Both troubled the batsman on a pitch which has an ample covering of grass and early morning moisture.
Seales picked up two wickets in the eighth over – Shayne Moseley caught behind by Josh Da Silva as he pushed hard at a full length delivery and next ball Sunil Ambris plumb leg-before wicket.
Nkrumah Bonner, the hero from the last tour of Bangladesh, looked solid, but was trapped in front by McSween to leave the score 53-3 half-hour before lunch. Skipper Chase joined Campbell, and they both played some pleasant shots on both sides of the wicket.
Chase moved to his half-century off 101 balls and made a 75 before he was stumped by the alert Da Silva as Hodge tempted him with a full, wide delivery. The skipper faced 159 balls and hit 10 boundaries. He shared a fourth-wicket stand of 183 with Campbell, who eventually reached his century in the post-tea session off 217 balls in 4 ¾ hours.
In the final hour, Seales and McSween returned with the second new ball and made further inroads as the score slipped from 252-4 to 271-7. Left-hander Raymon Reifer fell for two as he popped at catch to Hodge at short-leg off Seales.
Moments later there was more drama when Jahmar Hamilton flicked a catch into the hands of Shimron Hetmyer, who was precisely positioned at leg-slip for the shot. (CWI)
