BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Discarded Test opener John Campbell blasted an unbeaten hundred to send a reminder to the newly installed selection panel, as Jamaica Scorpions dominated Barbados Pride here yesterday.
Opting to bat first on the opening day of the second round match in the Regional First Class Championship, Scorpions piled up 299 for three before heavy showers ended play prematurely deep in the final session at Kensington Oval.
The left-handed Campbell carved out 123 to post his sixth first class hundred, facing 205 balls in just under 5-¾ hours and hitting a dozen fours and one six.
Paul Palmer supported with an unbeaten 76 while Test batsman Nkrumah Bonner made 49 and opener Leroy Lugg, 39.
Captain Campbell provided the start Scorpions required after they chose to bat first, putting on 71 for the first wicket with Lugg who batted with gay abandon in striking four fours and three sixes in a 41-ball cameo.
Lugg holed out to long on off left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican and Test vice-captain Jermaine Blackwood lasted 24 balls for his one before falling to a catch at gully off pacer Shamar Springer, as Scorpions reached 92 for two at lunch.
Campbell remained steady, however, posting 91 for the third wicket with Bonner and a further 131 in an unbroken fourth wicket stand with Palmer, who has so far faced 106 balls in a shade over two hours and counted nine fours and a brace of sixes.
Bonner, who only returned last weekend from West Indies’ one-day tour of India, struck half-dozen fours and a six in an innings spanning 117 balls and 124 minutes.
He departed with tea beckoning, caught at second slip by Warrican diving in front first slip off medium pacer Jonathan Carter, on the verge of his 23rd half-century.
Unbeaten on 38 at lunch and 76 at tea, Campbell raised triple figures off three successive deliveries in the 12th over after the resumption from the final interval – hitting Warrican for a straight six, a straight four and then pulling to the square boundary.
Campbell’s innings was watched by legendary opener, the Most Honourable Desmond Haynes, who was installed as the new chairman of the men’s selection panel last month.
Jamaican Campbell played 15 Tests before being dropped following Sri Lanka’s tour of the Caribbean last April.
England, against whom Campbell made his debut three years ago, are expected in the Caribbean at the end of the month for a three-Test series in March.
