Cricket: Nafees a jolly good fellow with a record century

Shahriar Nafees celebrates his century for Bangladesh yesterday. Picture / Reuters

Young opening batsman Shahriar Nafees smashed a record-breaking century yesterday as Bangladesh hammered Zimbabwe by 101 runs in the final ICC Champions Trophy qualifying match between the two bottom-placed teams.

Led by Nafees' unbeaten 123, Bangladesh made 231 for six off 50 overs.Zimbabwe went off track in pursuit of the target and were bowled out for 130 in 44.4 overs.

Zimbabwe finished at the bottom of the four-team qualifying round from which Sri Lanka and defending champion West Indies have earned their berths in the main event, which begins today.

"Things went according to the plan and our spinners did well in defending the total," said a relieved-looking Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar, whose team was beaten by Sri Lanka and the West Indies in their two qualifying matches.

Bizarre run-outs of Hamilton Masakadza and Stuart Matsikenyeri did not help the Zimbabwean cause, with opener Brendan Taylor fighting a lone battle before he was stumped for 52 off 74 balls midway through the innings.

Left-arm spinner Saqibul Hasan and the experienced Mohammad Rafique were the pick of Bangladesh bowlers with three and two wickets respectively.

Earlier, Nafees, a 20-year-old left-hander, hit 17 boundaries and a six in a 161-ball knock - his second limited-overs century against Zimbabwe in two months.

"I like to play strokes but today the wicket did not suit my style of batting and that's why I took so many deliveries," said Nafees.

Nafees also became the only Bangladesh batsman to have crossed the three-figure mark twice, in only his 28th limited-overs international. He had earlier scored an unbeaten 118 - the previous highest all-time total by a Bangladesh batsman in a limited-overs game - at Harare in August during Bangladesh's 3-2 loss to Zimbabwe.

"I tried to stay at the wicket as long as possible and, in the end, we got a good total to defend," Nafees said.