Fatullah, April 9:

Opener Shahriar Nafees struck a sparkling maiden century as Bangladesh produced their best performance on a Test match day against Australians today.

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 (2) were the not out batsmen. The bowling attack of pacemen Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Stuart Clark and leg-spinners Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill were left frustrated.

Nafees 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.

Nafees, whose previous best in four Tests was 51, struck 19 fours during his 189-ball knock.

The 20-year-old added 187 for the second wicket with Bashar, which broke the previous Bangladeshi record of 167 for any wicket. Bashar was out on the stroke of tea when he tried

to pull MacGill but gave a catch to Lee at mid-on. MacGill was the pick of the bowlers with 3-82.

The home side reached 200 in the 44th over after sprinting to 100 in just the 20th over, with Nafees playing fine shots all around the ground and Bashar joining him in the run feast. Nafees had earlier put on 51 with opener Omar (27), who was trapped lbw by Gillespie.

SCOREBOARD

BANGLADESH — 1st Innings

J Omar lbw b Gillespie 27

S Nafees b MacGill 138

H Bashar c Lee b MacGill 76

R Saleh not out 35

M Ashraful lbw b Gillespie 29

A Ahmed c Hayden b MacGill 29

K Mashud not out 2

Extras: 19 (10lb, 1w, 8nb)

Total: 355/5

FoW: 1-51, 2-238, 3-265, 4-295, 5-351

Australia bowling: Lee 15-2-65-0,

Clark 12-1-43-0, Gillespie 16-4-36-2,

Warne 20-1-112-0, MacGill 22-1-82-3, Clarke 3-0-7-0