NARAYANGANJ, 26 March 2006 — Rajin Saleh slammed a maiden century as Bangladesh thrashed Kenya by seven wickets in the fourth and final one-dayer to complete a 4-0 sweep here yesterday.
Opener Saleh (108 not out) was involved in a record 175-run stand for the unbroken fourth wicket with skipper Habibul Bashar (64 not out) as Bangladesh surpassed Kenya’s total of 232-9 with more than eight overs to spare.
Their stand was Bangladesh’s best in one-dayers, the previous highest being 170 for the opening wicket between Shahriar Hossain and Mehrab Hossain against Zimbabwe at Dhaka in 1999.
Bangladesh were struggling at 62-3 in the 14th over before man-of-the-match Saleh and Bashar steered their team to an emphatic victory.
Saleh, 22, struck 16 fours in his 113-ball knock while Bashar hit one six and five fours in his 88-ball innings.
Earlier, Kenyan skipper Steve Tokolo top-scored with a quickfire 81 but his team still failed to set a challenging target after electing to bat.
Tikolo, who cracked one six and nine fours in his 87-ball knock, put on 95 for the third wicket with Hitesh Modi, who contributed 35.
Collins Obuya (45) and Tony Suji (30) were the other main contributors for Kenya.
Left-arm spinners Mohammad Rafique and Abdur Razzak, and seamer Mashrafe Mortaza each grabbed two wickets.
Bangladeshi batsman Shahriar Nafees was named man of the series.
