Nafees A team's spark
Sports Reporter
England were mystified by a masterful century from Nafees Iqbal on the opening day of the three-day match against Bangladesh A at the BKSP ground in Savar yesterday. The young right-hander treated the English bowlers with disdain hammering 118 off 168 balls as the home side put up a decent total of 242 all out at stumps. A star in the making the opening batsman from Chittagong not only wore down the seven bowlers employed by England captain Michael Vaughan but also ensured that the second string national team batted out the whole day. His typically aggressive innings, which contained 14 boundaries and a huge six, also gave the selectors ample food for thought that he would be the first in line if ever a vacancy arose the top in the national team. But the start of the A team innings gave little indication of what was to follow after Bangladesh opener Javed Omar, who was out for a duck, and hero of the first three-day match Aftab Ahmed fell for four. With the team struck down at 17-2 Nafees was joined by his captain Rajin Saleh to produce 103 runs for the third wicket. This century stand had definitely upset the English plans of a quick mop up operation as they had done at the Bangabandhu National Stadium against the BCB President's Eleven earlier this week. Saleh, the find of Bangladesh in Pakistan, contributed a 91-ball 28 in that vital third-wicket stand. But once paceman Richard Johnson broke through the stubborn partnership by finding the edge of Saleh's bat after lunch the tourists took control of proceedings. The only blemish for the nephew of former national captain Akram Khan came when he called his non-striking partner Nazimuddin for a risky single but Rikki Clarke made no mistake to knock down the stumps with a direct hit from gully. The brilliant innings of Nafees, who will lead the Bangladesh Under-19 team in a four-nation tournament in Pakistan later this month, finally came to an end while attempting yet another big hit but was caught at long-on off off-spinner Gareth Batty whom he slammed a six and a four in that eventful over. The middle-order collapse at one stage sent the home side reeling at 179-7 but thanks to a gritty eighth wicket stand of 40 runs between Arafat Sunny (25 off 110 balls) and Mossadeq Hossain (21 off 52 balls) they managed to cross the 200-mark. The damp outfield at the country's lone sports institute prevented another 30 runs being added to the Bangladesh A team total. English fast bowler Stephen Harmison, who removed both the openers, was most successful claiming three wickets for 35 runs in 10 overs while Johnson took two for 35 runs in 13.5 overs. But there was little luck for a persevering Matthew Hoggard, who had eight maidens in his spell of 11 overs and got only one wicket for 19 runs.
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