Rafique plunders maiden hundred for Bangladesh
Monday, May 31, 2004
GROS ISLET, St. Lucia (AFP): Mohammad
Rafique delivered the ultimate slap in the face to the West Indies, when he
completed his maiden Test hundred, batting at nine, to lead Bangladesh to
their highest Test total on a rain-shortened second day of the opening cricket
Test on Saturday. Dropped twice on 84 by the
hapless Fidel Edwards, the 29-year-old Rafique rode his luck and was unbeaten
on 103 to lift Bangladesh to 406 for nine at the end of a day in which over
three hours were lost to a combination of rain and a wet outfield.
Rafique, whose previous Test best score was 32, was dropped by Edwards inside
the deep square leg boundary off Ramnaresh Sarwan and, in the next over, which
Edwards bowled, offered a sharp return chance that the bowler failed to hold.
Rafique maintained his composure and square drove his full-length 138th
delivery from Sarwan through cover for the last of his 11 fours and two sixes
that decorated his 211-minute stay at the crease to reach the milestone.
It triggered jovial celebrations on the balcony of the Bangladeshi dressing
room which had applauded captain Habibul Bashar's third Test hundred the
previous day, and immediately prompted an offer from umpires Daryll Harper of
Australia and Jeremy Lloyds of England of light to Rafique and last man Tareq
Aziz with 7.5 overs remaining. Sarwan,
twirling his uncomplicated leg-spin, has been the pick of the West Indies
bowlers with three wickets for 51 runs from 24 overs. Left-arm medium-fast
bolwer Pedro Collins has taken three for 83 from 26 overs.
This is a match, however, that Edwards and, indeed, the entire West Indies
team will quickly want to forget. The fast bowler has delivered 21 overs that
cost 78 runs in which he has not collected a wicket and has now dropped four
catches in the match. Twice on Friday, he put
down Mohammad Ashraful, who scored 81, and with whom Rafique added 87 for the
eighth wicket to frustrate West Indies after rain and a wet Beausejour Stadium
outfield delayed the start by nearly 4-1/2 hours.
Only 2.4 overs were possible before rain precipitated tea with Bangladesh on
285 for seven. After the break, Ashraful and Rafique continued to plunder the
lacklustre West Indies attack with a string of rasping strokes punctuating
periods of circumspect batting. Ashraful had
a crunching pull for four off Tino Best and Rafique chose the aerial route
with a few cross-batted strokes over the off-side in the arc between third man
and extra cover. Jermaine Lawson made the
breakthrough for West Indies about 1-1/4 hours after tea when Ashraful was
adjudged lbw playing back and across to a full-length delivery that moved
back. He batted 4-1/2 hours, faced 224 balls and hit eight fours.
West Indies might have expected a swift end to the agony, but Rafique and
Tapash Baisya added a useful 33 at almost a run-a-minute for the ninth wicket.
Tapash was, however, caught and bowled by Sarwan for nine, but Rafique and
Aziz continued to offer stout resistance that broke the spirit of the home
team.
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