Brathwaite's maiden first-class ton gives WI 'A' strong start

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC): Kraigg Brathwaite came of age yesterday when he gathered his maiden first-class hundred to put West Indies 'A' in an almost impregnable position in the opening four-day 'Test' against Pakistan 'A'.

The 17-year-old batting prodigy satisfied his voracious appetite for runs with an undefeated 117 to anchor Windies 'A' to 216 for one in their first innings when bad light stopped play 10 overs early on the rain-shortened second day at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.

Brathwaite, whose reputation for scoring hundreds is well documented in his native Barbados, reached the milestone from 290 balls. So far, he has struck 11 fours from 339 balls in just over six and a half hours of batting as the Pakistanis endured the long, hard toil on a hard, easy-paced pitch.

WEST INDIES - A 1st Innings

(overnight 63 without loss)

K. Powell c Shan Masood b Zulfiqar Babar 50

K. Brathwaite not out 117K. Edwards not out 39Extras: (lb2, nb8) 10TOTAL: (1 wkt, 104.3 overs) 216

A. Fudadin, J. Carter,D. Bernard, +D. Ramdin, V. Permaul, J. Holder, O. Brown, S. Gabriel to bat

Fall of wickets: 1-91 (Powell),

Bowling: Yasir Arafat 20-7-43-0; Anwar Ali 21.3-6-52-0 (nb2); Junaid Khan 18-3-43-0 (nb4); Zulfiqar Babar 32-9-57-1; Umer Amin 9-3-12-0 (nb2); Faisal Isbal 4-1-7-0

PAKISTAN-A: Khurram Manzoor, Umair Khan, Umer Amin, Aamer Sajjad,Faisal Iqbal, +Sarfraz Ahmed, Shan Masood, Yasir Arafat, Junaid Khan, Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar

Toss: Pakistan-A

Umpires: N. Duguid, P. Nero

Reserve umpire: G. Greaves