KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – A blistering, first-class career-best hundred from John Campbell led solid batting down the order to put Jamaica Scorpions in charge against Trinidad & Tobago Red Force before rain slowed their advance in the Regional 4-Day Championship yesterday.
Campbell hit 155 – his third first-class hundred – to power the Scorpions to 318 for four, replying to Red Force’s first innings total of 243, before rain drove the players off the field early and they never returned on the second day of the sixth-round match at Sabina Park.
The left-handed opener struck 11 fours and seven sixes from 183 balls in a 4 ¼ hours stay at the crease to inspire the remainder of the Scorpions batting of which skipper Paul Palmer was unbeaten on 68 and Brandon King made 63.
Left-arm fast-medium bowler Daniel St Clair was the most successful Red Force, taking 2-48 from 13 overs, but he and the rest of the visitors’ attack would have welcomed the rain interruption late in the day that saved them from further punishment.
Scorpions stumbled through the first half-hour of the day, losing opener Trevon Griffith to St. Clair without adding to his overnight four and Assad Fudadin, his fellow Guyana-born, left-handed teammate, lbw two overs later for a fourth-ball duck.
The home team were 36 for two, but King and Campbell transformed the complexion of the game with a dynamic, 157-run, third-wicket stand at close to 5.5 runs an over that put the Red Force attack on its heels.
Practically, no bowler was spared during their rampage, as the two comfortably ticked off individual landmarks before King fell to left-arm spinner Khary Pierre after lunch, following a near two-hour stay at the crease that yielded seven fours and three sixes from 107 balls.
But the Red Force bowlers remained under pressure, when Palmer came to the crease and continued the rampage, sharing 89 for the fourth wicket with Campbell, whose masterpiece came to a close at the hands of veteran leg-spinner Imran Khan.
Palmer and Fabian Allen, his maiden first-class hundred against this opponent in the first leg match upper-most in his mind, were just about getting into the swing of things when the rain intervened, to the delight of the Red Force.
Scorpions – starting the match in third on 55 points – have so far added three batting points, three bowling points and one pace bowling point, and Red Force – entering the match second on 61.8 points – have so far earned just one batting point, one bowling point and 0.4 pace bowling points.
