Smith ton pulverises Bangladesh in first ODI

CHITTAGONG—Graeme Smith smashed an unbeaten century to guide South Africa to an emphatic nine-wicket win in the first one-day international against Bangladesh here on Sunday.
Smith, 27, hit 14 fours and a six in his 118-ball 103 as South Africa surpassed the victory target of 178 with as many as 13.1 overs to spare in a one-sided contest at the Chittagong Divisional stadium. The South African skipper also put on 143 runs for the opening wicket with Herschelle Gibbs, who made a fine 57 off 84 balls with eight fours and a six.
The clinical performance by the South African openers complemented the effort of the bowlers who did well in restricting the hosts to 178, built around a career-best 82 by teenage opener Tamim Iqbal. Smith, declared man of the match, praised his bowlers for setting up the comprehensive win.
"Our win was set up by the bowlers. We were very clinical and brilliant in the field. Also we were playing with two spinners for the first time ever and they bowled very well. "We played the two spinners because the pitch looked dry and in the end it proved to be the right choice."
But the strategy of the home side to unleash a three-pronged left-arm spin attack failed miserably. Skipper Mohammad Ashraful in fact tossed the new ball to spinner Abdur Razzak and did not introduce his strike bowler Shahadat Hossain till as late as the 20th over -- a tactic that backfired spectacularly.
Hossain, in impressive form in the preceding Test series, cut a sorry figure in the end, conceding 31 runs off the three overs that he bowled in all. Ashraful later defended the decision to open the attack with Razzak but rued the inability of the batsmen to put up a bigger total.
"It was our game plan to introduce the spinner early. Even if we had scored 240 or more, we would have opened the attack with the spinner. "We lost the game because we lost four crucial wickets in the middle overs and failed to put up a more competitive target," he said. Smith, enjoying a purple patch after 304 runs from the two Tests, carried his form to the one-dayers, reaching his seventh one-day century with a six that also brought off the winning runs.
Gibbs completed his 34th fifty with a four off debutant left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain and followed it up with an imperiously driven six straight down the ground. But his belligerence was cut short soon after by Shakib Al Hasan -- the only success with the ball for the hapless home team.
Earlier, 18-year-old Iqbal hit nine fours and a six in his 98-ball innings to prop up the Bangladesh innings which was tottering at 89-4 at the half-way mark after Ashraful had elected to bat. Iqbal reached his fourth ODI fifty with a single off Johan Botha and raised his bat to acknowledge the cheers from a strong home crowd.

—Agencies