Her team-mates call her 'mini' on account of her small stature but Shemaine Campbelle has finally shown she has an appetite for the big occasion.
Her career-best 90* off 62 balls in West Indies' T20 World Cup opener was 17 years in the making. It turned Campbelle from much-loved plucky team player to woman of the moment, something she has waited her entire career to be called.
"Plenty of times it has come across my thoughts (that I would not get 50) because I've been around so long and I was always getting into the 40s and the 30s and I couldn't cross 50. Thank God it's here now," Campbelle told ESPNcricinfo, four days after her heroics in Southampton and ahead of their next match, against Scotland at Headingley.
Did she expect to see so many people celebrating with her, including West Indian legend Ian Bishop? Maybe. "Everyone knows I'm a very cool person and I'm a very loving person," she said. "You won't find anyone say anything bad about me."
It's more than that. West Indies coach Shane Deitz called Campbelle the "heart and soul," of the team, but she is also its collective memory.
No one has played more T20Is for West Indies than Campbelle (155 caps) or more T20 World Cup matches.
She remembers everything, from the relatively low profile home World Cup in the Caribbean in 2010, to the glory of winning in 2016 and the subsequent slide. In all that, it's fair to say she has been bit-part. In 15 years, Campbelle had never scored a T20I half-century and had a strike rate under 90.
In the early part of her career, she was better known for her bowling and took 34 wickets in her first 60 matches at an average under 20. In that time she was also the designated wicket-keeper for 10 matches and soon switched to donning the gloves. Since 2019, she has kept wicket in 45 matches.
Her coolest record, before June 13, 2026, was that she is the only player in the world to score more than 1000 runs, take over 50 wickets, and have 50 dismissals behind the stumps across formats. Without being cruel, those numbers are as much about skill as they are the consequence of a long career because the occasions where Campbelle was mentioned as a stand-out are scant.
Her T20I debut, where she took 3 for 7 in four overs and was player of the match is one of them, and the century she scored at No. 7 in an ODI against Sri Lanka in 2013 is another.
More than a decade-and-a-half into a career with few major accomplishments, Campbelle never doubted herself. "For me, it was just being confident in myself and patient," she said. "As a person I believe in myself a lot."
There was someone else who felt the same way. Before the match against New Zealand, Bishop and Campbelle spoke and he helped reinforce her positivity. "I had a word with him and he told me to just believe in myself and my ability and just go out and execute," Campbelle said.
Chasing 163, Campbelle was at the crease with West Indies on 12 for 1 in the second over and had to help her captain Hayley Matthews rebuild. They shared a second-wicket stand of 74 off 61 balls. When Matthews was dismissed, another stalwart Deandra Dottin was in. Campbelle and Dottin put on 40. But when Dottin was dismissed in the 16th over, with 37 still to get, and 20-year old Jahzara Claxton joined Campbelle, things could have got dicey. It was up to Campbelle to prep Claxton.
"I told her that both of us could run hard between the wickets. Very well. So I said, 'In spite of whatever, we're going to run and we're going to push hard. We did that pretty good."
In the four overs they were together, West Indies faced only three dot balls and ran eight singles, four twos, and a three. Campbelle also hit what she called her favourite shot of the innings, a searing four straight back past Sophie Devine. "That was one of the best ones and I actually timed it pretty good," she said.
There was timing but there was also power, and her three sixes included one of the game's biggest so far: over cow corner off Amelia Kerr. While the rest of the world had no idea Campbelle had it in her, Bishop always knew and enveloped her in a bear hug at the end, which only heightened the sense of occasion. "It was a bit emotional for me because I wanted to score so badly," she said. "I always wanted to do well for this team so it kind of touched me. I'm super excited that we got there and I actually won the game for my team."
Because of Campbelle's knock, West Indies are in a position to push for a place in the semi-finals from Group 2, though they still have some big matches to come. After taking on Scotland, who they lost to at the ODI World Cup qualifierslast April, they will play Sri Lanka, England and then Ireland but Campbelle is confident they can progress to the final four.
"There's a bunch of talented players, some experienced and some junior players around. All in all, it's a good bunch. Everyone here has their role to play and they're doing it so far," she said. "With the kind of players that we have in this team, I'm sure we're going to do well at this World Cup and definitely we're going to get that flag flying pretty high again."
You can hear more from Shemaine Campbelle on the Powerplay podcast next week.
