John Campbell and Kirk McKenzie both scored centuries to help Jamaica chase down 324 in their West Indies Championship opener against Barbados.
The duo added 242 runs for the opening wicket in 48.5 overs on the last day of the first-class match, with Campbell scoring 126, while McKenzie hit 135. The stand enabled Jamaica to complete the chase in 61 overs, scoring at a rate of 5.34 runs per over.
Barbados captain Kraigg Brathwaite won the toss and chose to bat, but was the first to fall on the third ball of the match for a duck. They were soon reduced to 23-3, when Kevin Wickham and Kyle Mayers joined hands in the middle. The duo added 117 runs for the fourth wicket, with Mayers falling for 64.
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Wickham went on to complete a fourth first-class hundred and was dismissed for 153, his career-best score in the format, as Barbados finished their innings at 348 all out. Right-arm pacer Marquino Mindley and off-spinner Pete Salmon took four wickets each.
John Campbell, Kirk McKenzie both ton up in massive chase
In reply, Jamaica put up a combined batting effort to fall just six runs short of Barbados’s first-innings total. Carlos Brown was their top-scorer with 61, while three batters scored in their 40s and another two in their 30s. Only Nos. 10 and 11, Mindley and Ojay Shields, couldn’t get into double digits. Jomel Warrican took a 27th career five-wicket haul.
Wickham scored a second ton of the game, while Shayne Moseley and Shamar Springer scored half-centuries, in the second innings, to enable Barbados to declare their innings for 317-8 in the first session on the fourth day and set Jamaica 324 to win. Campbell and McKenzie’s opening stand then set up the chase perfectly as Jamaica started the competition with a win.
Match 3, Jamaica Scorpions vs Barbados Pride
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Campbell is the incumbent West Indies Test opener, having featured in all five matches on their most recent tours to New Zealand and India, where he also scored his first century in the format in Delhi. McKenzie, meanwhile, played seven Tests for West Indies between July 2023 and 2024, scoring 203 runs at 16.91, with a top score of 50 against Australia in Adelaide.
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