Bashundhara came alive on the final day of the two-day players' registration for the competition at the Bangabandhu National Stadium conference room, securing the services of 15 cricketers including former national captains Akram Khan and Naimur Rahman.

Out-of-favour Test batsman Al Shahriar, veteran left-arm spinner Enamul Haque Moni and in-form Chittagong batsman Faisal Hossain the highest run-getter in the last National Cricket League were among Bashundhara's big catches yesterday.

The corporate group had already completed the signing formalities of Bangladesh U-19 opener Nafees Iqbal and his Chittagong teammate Shabbir Khan late on Thursday. Bashundhara have also roped in Test paceman Tapash Baishya, their only collection from the nine-member national pool, prolific wicket-taker Saifullah Khan and quick bowlers Hasibul Hossain and Gazi Alamgir.

Khaled Mashud, the country's number one wicketkeeper who was released from the original pool of ten, joined ARAF Apparels who also signed his understudy Mohammad Salim as a contingency measure as Mashud could miss a number of matches of the CCL because of his commitments with the national team.

GrameenPhone, the largest cellular company in the country and title sponsors of the event, were seen busy on both days and have put together a formidable unit on paper.

Khaled Mahmud, the immediate past national skipper and a member of the pool, committed himself to GP yesterday. He was joined by national opener Shahriar Hossain, left-arm seamer Manjurul Islam, Test discard Mehrab Hossain and batsmen Anisul Hakim, Sajjadul Hasan and Nasirul Alam.

On Thursday, the richly talented allrounder Alok Kapali, proven middle-order bats Tushar Imran and Mazharul Haque, Test caps fast-medium Anwar Hossain Munir, Enamul Haque Junior and fellow left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak Raj had put pen on paper confirming their allegiance to GP.

BEXIMCO, who had contracted 13 players on the opening day, strengthen their batting by recruiting Asadullah Khan and Syed Parvez Ahmed yesterday.

The players registration programme of the CCL, an inadequate alternative for the Dhaka Premier Division and First Division leagues, failed to provide the sparks and thrills usually associated with transfers of those crowd-pulling competitions.

With Grameen and Bashundhara calling the shots, teams like Partex who only have one major signing in Javed Omar and BADC just went through the motions.

Partex are building their team with mainly players with First Division exposure while BADC relied on unheralded Premier Division cricketers.

Although the deadline for registration expired at 9pm yesterday, teams will get another chance for some last moment sign-ups as the registration window will re-open briefly tomorrow from 4-8 pm as per the decision of the CCL's organising committee.

MM Ispahani, one of the leading tea companies, signed five players including Chittagong Division opener Masumuddowlah yesterday and they are expected to take advantage of the special consideration tomorrow when they hope to register Minhajul Abedin Nannu, the former national captain.

City Cell, a last-minute entry, were totally absent from the proceedings on both days and will also arrive tomorrow. A total of 142 cricketers have been involved in the registration process.