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| April 10, 2006 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1427 |
Shahriar stuns Australia with sparkling century
FATULLAH (Bangladesh), April 9: Opener Shahriar Nafees struck a sparkling maiden century as cricketing minnows Bangladesh produced their best performance in Test cricket against the mighty Australians here on Sunday. The left-hander scored 138 and was associated in a record stand with captain Habibul Bashar (76) that helped the home side reach 355-5 at stumps on the opening day of the first Test.
Rajin Salen (35) and Khaled Mashud (two) were the not out batsmen, with Bangladesh looking determined to inflate the total further on a pitch expected to help spinners as the match progresses.
The bowling attack of pacemen Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Stuart Clark and leg-spinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill were left frustrated against a side which has in the past struggled to bat a full day in Tests.
Bangladesh have lost both their previous Tests to Australia by innings margins.
But taking inspiration from their shock victory over Australia in a tri-series one-dayer in England last year, the home side took the bull by the horns and played aggressively after electing to bat.
Shahriar led the charge with a well-paced knock that was the third-highest individual effort for Bangladesh, during which he drove and cut the pacemen with ease and swept the spinners at will.
Shahriar, whose previous best in four Tests was 51, struck 19 fours during his 189-ball knock and got to his century with a four to fine-leg off Warne.
The 20-year-old added 187 for the second wicket with Bashar, which broke the previous Bangladeshi record of 167 for any wicket --- between Habibul Bashar and Javed Omar against Pakistan at Peshawar in 2003.
Habibul attacked Warne often and helped himself to 11 fours off 113 balls, consolidating the home side's position after they raced to 144-1 by lunch.
Shahriar was dropped on 66 by Warne at the lone wide slip off paceman Gillespie in the second session.
He then put his head down once again to frustrate the bowlers till he was bowled from behind the legs by MacGill while sweeping.
Habibul was earlier out on the stroke of tea when he tried to pull MacGill but gave a catch to Lee at mid-on. MacGill, who also dismissed Aftab Ahmed, was the pick of the bowlers with 3-82.
Visiting captain Ricky Ponting led his side to a fine 3-0 Test series triumph in South Africa before embarking on their maiden full tour of this country. But he was short of ideas against the free-stroking Bangladeshis.
The home side reached 200 in the 44th over after sprinting to 100 in just the 20th over, with Shahriar playing fine shots all around the ground and Habibul joining him in the run feast.
Shahriar had earlier put on 51 with opener Javed Omar (27), who was trapped leg-before by Gillespie.
Javed struck six fours including two consecutive ones down the leg side off new-ball bowler Stuart Clark.
The second and final Test will be held in Chittagong from April 16.
Scoreboard
BANGLADESH (1st Innings):
Javed Omar lbw b Gillespie 27
Shahriar Nafees b MacGill 138
Habibul Bashar c Lee b MacGill 76
Rajin Saleh not out 35
Mohammad Ashraful lbw b Gillespie 29
Aftab Ahmed c Hayden b MacGill 29
Khaled Mashud not out 2
EXTRAS (LB-10, W-1, NB-8) 19
TOTAL (for five wkts, 88 overs) 355
FALL OF WKTS: 1-51, 2-238, 3-265, 4-295, 5-351.
TO BAT: Mohammad Rafique, Mashrafe bin Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain, Enamul Haque Jr.
BOWLING (to-date): Lee 15-2-65-0 (6nb); Clark 12-1-43-0 (1nb); Gillespie 16-4-36-2 (1nb); Warne 20-1-112-0; MacGill 22-1-82-3 (1w); Clarke 3- 0-7-0.
AUSTRALIA: M.L. Hayden, M.E.K. Hussey, R.T. Ponting, D.R. Martyn, M.J. Clarke, A.C. Gilchrist, S.K. Warne, B. Lee, J.N. Gillespie, S.C.G. MacGill, S.R. Clark.
UMPIRES: Aleem Dar and Nadeem Ghauri (Pakistan).
TV UMPIRE: A.F.M. Akhtaruddin (Bangladesh).
MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).—Agencies
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