Cricket: Campbell ton saves follow-on

THE OPENER Sherwin Campbell completed his third Test hundred in front of 12,000 ecstastic fellow Barbadians as he and left-handed wicket- keeper Ridley Jacobs transformed Kensington Oval from a morgue into a Caribbean carnival on the third day of the third Test yesterday.

Counter-attacking with a volley of boundaries when the West Indies were weak-kneed and on the ropes at 98 for 6 against the menacing hostility of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie, the pair thumped 21 fours in a partnership of 153 off 125 balls.

Campbell made 105, an innings divided into two distinctly different parts, and Jacobs 68, and their stand was the catalyst for later merry resistance from the tail. The 231 raised by their last four wickets allowed the West Indies to pass the follow-on total of 291 and lifted their hopes of avoiding defeat over the last two days.

Eventually all out three-quarters of an hour from the end for 329, a still substantial deficit of 161, their durable fast bowlers Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh returned after their frenetic last wicket partnership of 38 to claim a wicket each in the last eight overs of the day, leaving Australia 18 for 2, 179 to the good.

When Jacobs joined Campbell 45 minutes into the day, McGrath and Gillespie had tightened Australia's already vice-like grip on the game. The West Indies began at 80 for 4 and soon lost Carl Hooper for 28 and left-hander Jimmy Adams without scoring to slip catches off McGrath.

Campbell, meanwhile, was so confined by the controlled pace of Gillespie that he could manage only one scoring stroke off the seven consecutive overs he faced from him over the first hour. Even that was a streaky boundary through the slips off the day's third ball. Two overs later, he survived a stinging boot-high catch to Matthew Elliott at third slip.

But he diligently stuck it out and when Australia's captain Steve Waugh turned to his two spinners, Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill, the forthright Jacobs initiated the offensive. Campbell quickly took the cue and the two emphatically changed the course of the innings and the mood of the crowd.

Campbell's bat, strokeless for the first hour, became a flashing blade, reeling off rasping cover-drives and squarecuts. Jacobs, more muscular and forthright, dealt roughly with the loose balls.

Waugh seemed to be at his wits' end when he speculated with Ricky Ponting's occasional medium-pace with Campbell on 90. After a couple of alarms, the opener nudged him to three to third man to pass three figures for the second time on his home soil of Kensington. His 208 against New Zealand three years ago was the first.

Filling in a few overs to rest McGrath prior to the second new ball, Ponting earned Australia a bonus, ending the partnership 25 minutes before tea when Jacobs underedged his cut low to Mark Waugh at second slip. His 68, spanning two and three-quarter hours, included nine fours. Campbell's vital contribution was ended a quarter-hour after tea, appropriately by the perserving Gillespie. He failed to keep down a square-cut that had earned him so many of his boundaries and Steve Waugh caught him at deep gully.

The statistics emphasised the structure of his innings. His first 50 took him 162 balls with five fours; his second required only 78 balls with 10 fours. First in, he was eighth out within 37 of the follow-on target. The bowlers then took over.

Third day; Australia won toss

AUSTRALIA - First Innings 490 (S R Waugh 199, R T Ponting 104; N O Perry 3-102).

WEST INDIES - First Innings

S L Campbell c S Waugh b Gillespie 105

A F G Griffith run out 0

D R E Joseph lbw b McGrath 26

P T Collins lbw b McGrath 0

*B C Lara c Healy b Gillespie 8

C L Hooper c Warne b McGrath 25

J C Adams c M Waugh b McGrath 0

R D Jacobs c M Waugh b Ponting 68

N O Perry lbw b Gillespie 24

C E L Ambrose not out 28

C A Walsh c Slater b Warne 12

Extras (b10 lb3 nb20) 33

Total 329

Falls: 1-1, 2-50, 3-50, 4-64, 5-98, 6-98, 7-251, 8-265, 9-291

Bowling: McGrath 33-5-124-4 (nb14); Gillespie 28-14-48-1 (nb3); Warne 15.5-2-70-1 (nb 1); MacGill 20-5-47-0 (nb 2); Ponting 4-1-12-1; Waugh 3-0-11-0.

AUSTRALIA - Second innings

M T G Elliott c Jacobs b Walsh 0

M J Slater not out 14

J L Langer lbw b Ambrose 1

J N Gillespie not out 1

Extras (nb 2) 2

TOTAL (for 2) 18

Fall: 1-0, 2-12.

Umpires: E Nichols, D Orchard.