'Words cannot express how I feel right now' – Campbell
The 25-year-old smashed a 137-ball 179 before falling to Ireland's Barry McCarthy in the 48th over. His fiery knock was studded with 15 fours and six sixes.
"Words cannot express how I feel right now," Campbell said at the post-match press conference. "It's been a long time coming. [Since the] past few months, I've been putting in the hard-work. I guess I can say I'm reaping the success now."
A run down of the many, many records smashed by John Campbell and Shai Hope during their mammoth 365-run opening stand v Ireland.https://t.co/72NbTevu5v
— ICC (@ICC) May 5, 2019
While the pitch looked easy judging by the way both Campbell and Hope were batting, the former said that it was not so. The left-hander, in fact, survived a first-ball run-out scare but was able to put the incident behind him and get going a few overs later.
"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,” he said.
Campbell also said that he was only playing for the team and acknowledged Hope's contribution in the 365-run partnership. He further praised the bowlers, who were incisive and accurate and gave Ireland no room to prosper.
"I was just thinking about the team and trying to get the team as much runs as possible. 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," said the opener, who made his debut in February this year.
Although Campbell is not a part of West Indies' 15-man squad for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, he is glad he was able to grab the opportunity and make the best out of it.
"I'm just looking at it as another opportunity. I'd have loved to be in the World Cup squad. The experienced guys are coming in, so I'm just looking at grabbing this opportunity with both hands."
West Indies play Bangladesh next on Tuesday, 7 May and Campbell wants to do his best again. "We have to start the work all over again. I'm just looking forward to doing my best"
