West Indies opener John Campbell noted on Thursday that a timely rain delay significantly hampered his team’s momentum during the second day of the opening Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka. Before the interruption, the visitors had moved to 89/1, but they struggled after the restart, losing three quick wickets to leave the score at 97/4. They reached 89/1 in response before rain interrupted their progress.
“Yes, it was a little bit different after play resumed following the rain. I think when we went out after the rain delay, the lights were a little bit more in effect than before we went off for the break,” said Campbell, who contributed a composed 54. He suggested the atmospheric changes and the darker ball allowed the opposition to tighten their lines. “The break allowed them to regroup, and they were hitting better areas after we went back out,” he added. We have more than capable batsmen left.
The visiting side had earlier demonstrated dominance with the ball, dismantling the Bangladesh batting order.
They claimed seven wickets for 59 runs during a stellar morning session, including a burst of five wickets for 19 runs, to wrap up the home side’s first innings at 272. Campbell attributed this success to improved discipline, noting, “I just thought we were more consistent with our lines and lengths while challenging the batters a lot more this morning than we were yesterday.”
Regarding his own batting performance, Campbell explained that he prioritized patience and selectivity due to the pitch’s unpredictable bounce. “It was just about trying to pick my balls as much as possible and be as selective as possible. I knew the pitch was a little inconsistent in terms of bounce, so I just tried to stay as positive as possible. I didn’t try to play the wicket too much in my mind. I just wanted to play each ball at a time,” he said.
Despite the late-day collapse, Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Justin Greaves managed to stabilize the innings with an unbeaten 37-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Campbell remains optimistic about the match situation, viewing it as evenly poised. “At the moment, I think it’s a pretty even game. If we can get one or two more big partnerships, then we’ll be in the lead tomorrow. So that’s the aim going forward,” he concluded. As I said, if we can get a big partnership here and then a few 50-run partnerships, we should be in the lead.
