Floyd Reifer slams ton

Actions, they say, sometimes speak louder than words.

And the way in which Floyd Reifer brought up and celebrated his sixth first-class century at Kensington Oval yesterday was a loud statement in itself.

It's not often anyone arrives at the landmark with three successive fours, but the 29-year-old left-hander did so with a hat-trick of scintillating strokes.

Having moved from 89 to 101 with the first three deliveries in the first full over with the second new ball, Reifer emphatically punched the air with emotion that suggested he had cleared a major hurdle in accomplishing his first first-class hundred since 1997.

He saluted his teammates in the Garfield Sobers Pavilion, his supporters in the 3Ws and Kensington Stands and then turned around to point his bat in the direction of the Peter Short Media Centre where he might have felt there were some detractors.

My other centuries were much better than this, but this one meant a lot to me. I hadn't scored a hundred in a while. It is something I needed personally, said Reifer, a seasoned player who, however, lost his place in the Barbados team in the previous two seasons.

I don't bow to pressure. I have played many good innings for Barbados. It is just unfortunate that in the past few seasons I was dropped. I am looking forward to big things in the future. I have a point to prove.

Make no mistake about it, Reifer raised his century in spectacular fashion, spanking a cover-drive, a cut and a pull, a few minutes before the tea break.

He might have expected a declaration at the tea interval with Barbados having a useful lead of 129, but he was given the chance to come back out after the interval and he proceeded to lift sixes over mid-wicket and long-on in the space of three balls.

His unbeaten 127 off 158 balls allowed Barbados to dictate the pace on the third day of their bottom-of-the-table clash against Bangladesh 'A'.

After Sherwin Campbell made the declaration 20 minutes into the final session when the lead was 156, fast bowler Corey Collymore tightened Barbados' grip by claiming three wickets to put the hosts in a fine position to press for their first victory in four weeks.

Bangladesh, with seven wickets in hand, still need another 90 runs to avoid an innings defeat on a wearing pitch. If Barbados win, it will give the dethroned Cup champions a faint chance of qualifying for the semifinals of the International Shield.

Following their early morning dismissals of Barbados overnight batsmen, it was important that Reifer provided the impetus. And he did so after he benefited from an early miss by the Bangladishis.

My aim was to bat as positively as I could. I was a bit lucky today for once. I made use of it and ended up getting a good score, said Reifer, who struck 11 fours and three sixes in his near four-hour innings.

Bangladesh 'A' made Barbados fight for every run in the first session. The home side needed an hour-and-a-half to get the 50 runs they needed to collect first innings points and in tha period they lost both overnight batsmen.

Skipper Campbell duly completed his 22nd first-class century although he survived a raucous appeal for lbw on 99. After reaching his eighth regional hundred, Campbell pushed a ball into the covers and called Kurt Wilkinson for what looked to a be a tight single. It was no surprise that Wilkinson, who had added 11 to his overnight 52, was found wanting at the striker's end.

Without addition, Campbell could not keep down an attempted pull and gave a catch to mid-on to end an innings that lasted four hours and 242 balls and included six fours.

The double-strike brought two new batsmen to the crease who needed to play themselves in before they could start to push on the tempo.

Reifer, dropped on one, responded by belting a full-toss from Naimur Rahman's off-spin over mid-wicket and well clear of the Eric Inniss Stand.

Reifer is perhaps one of those cricketers who has never had his fair share of luck, especially in the previous two seasons, but he made sure he capitalised on this opportunity.

By lunch, he had progressed to 35, which included a lovely extra-cover drive that pierced a packed off-side field.

Half-hour before the interval, 18-year-old fast bowler Tareq Aziz removed Ryan Hinds. The left-hander never really found his best touch in the two hours he was in with Reifer during their fourth-wicket partnership of 87.

Shirley Clarke, his place in the side questioned by many following mainly modest performances in his three previous matches, arrived to replace Hinds but his stay was short-lived.