GrameenPhone Corporate League
No joy for chasers
Sports Reporter
National wicket-keeper Khaled Mashud and his understudy Mo-hammad Salim scored half cen-turies as Araf Apparels made a flying start in the GrameenPhone Corporate Cricket League with a 49-run victory over BEXIMCO Group at the Banga-bandhu National Stadium yesterday. Mashud scored 54 and Salim, who had a rare stint for the Tigers behind the wicket during Bangladesh's home series against South Africa last year, hit 51 in an impressive Araf Apparels total of 246-9 in 50 overs. BEXIMCO, in their chase, could manage 197 before being all out in 46.5 overs. BEXIMCO's bid for a winning start nipped in the bud when their star recruit Mohammad Ashraful fell for one. Coming in at number four the youngest Test centurion on debut played only seven balls before flashing off-spinner Jamaluddin Babu straight at the throat of Rubayet. Jamal finished with 2-30 but it was fellow offie Fahim Muntasir who stole the show with 3-43. While Araf Apparels made their maiden appearance in any competitive cricket memorable, there was no such luck for Aktel EC who slipped to a 30-run defeat against Partex Group despite a solid start to their pursuit at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium. Faced with a fighting Partex total of 224, Aktel were off to a flier with the left-right opening pair of Manjarul Islam and Uttam Kumar plundering 74 runs in 11.3 overs. Uttam hammered a 57-ball 48 that included seven firm hits across the rope and national all-rounder Manjarul struck four boundaries in his 30-ball 25. Aktel raced to the 100-mark by the end of the 21st over with one-down Golam Mawla making 39. But it all went wrong from there on as wickets began to tumble like a pack of cards against some controlled bowling from off-spinner Tariqul Islam, who ripped through the middle and lower order to finish with 4-26. Test ace Mohammad Rafique, the Aktel captain, scored a duck. Young wicketkeeper Anwar Hossain fought a lost battle with an unbeaten 25. Earlier, Partex benefited from some erratic Aktel bowling to get past 200. There were some 33 extras which was the second highest contribution to the Partex total after Tariq Ahmed's 39. The lone Test cap in the Partex batting line-up national opener Javed Omar scored just 10. The new-ball pair of Tareq Aziz Khan and Golam Rabbani were completely out of sorts. Tigers' right-arm seamer Tareq conceded 50 runs from his 10 overs while Rabbani gave away 38 in his five overs. Left-arm spinners Rafique and Manjarul however bowled to their reputation with the former finishing with 2-26.
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