Acme Laboratories also got over their shock opening loss to CityCell with a four-wicket victory against BEXIMCO Group at the Dhanmon-di Cricket Stadium.

Rain might have stopped Bangladesh Biman on Friday. But the national airliners cruised past Gazi Tank by six wickets under clear skies over Fatullah Cricket Stadium.

Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar scored a blazing unbeaten 73 in Acme's first victory while his deputy Rajin Saleh hit an explosive 40-ball 45 in CityCell's 77-run pa-ssage. There was however no luck for Partex despite Mohammad Ashraful's brave 81.

If they were just a few of the West Indies-bound squad who performed, the others could be said had an off day with the bat. Returning from injury national opener Javed Omar scored just one, while fellow opener Hannan Sarker made 13 and all-rounder Mushfiq-ur Rahman scored 8 for their res-pective teams.

CITYCELL V PARTEX
CityCell is proving that their late entry in the first-ever cricket league for corporate houses has nothing to do with their on-field performance. They thrived on half-centuries by Imran Ahmed and Moniruzzaman to register a fighting 228-9 in 50 overs.

The pair added 89 for the second wicket with Moniruzzaman hitting 62, his back-to-back fifty.

Imran top-scored with 66 off 104 balls that featured six boundaries. But the real thrust came off Rajin Saleh's bat.

Partex's chase never took off as they lost six wickets with only fifty runs on the board. However, they showed resilience where CityCell faltered with both tailenders Rezanul Islam (30) and Mizanur Rahman (40) delaying CityCell's party. The chase eventually ended at 151in 49 overs.

With this win CityCell and Bashundhara topped the table with maximum four points from two games.

ACME V BEXIMCO
It was a tale of two attacking knocks where an experienced Bashar won over a youthful Ashraful. But the unsung hero of the piece was left-arm spinner Ahsanullah Hasan.

Ashraful put behind his first match disappointment against ARAF Apparels, where he scored one, with a dashing 81 off 85 balls as BEXIMCO posted a commanding 247-8 in a reduced 45-over-a-side contest. The little right-hander smote six fours and two sixes.

But Bashar still stole Ashraful's thunder when the top batsman of the country produced a superb unbeaten 73 off 75 balls as Acme recovered from a shaky 117-5 to reach 250-6 in with six balls to spare. Bashar struck two fours and as many sixes for his second half-century in the competition.

But his knock would not have been so meaningful had Hasan not been around to feature in the vital 98-run stand for the sixth wicket. The southpaw, after his four-wicket haul with the ball, made an invaluable 46 off 47 balls. The player from Chittagong struck four boundaries.

It was BEXIMCO's second defeat after their 49-run thrashing at the hands of ARAF Apparels.

BIMAN V GAZI TANK
Bangladesh Biman, a traditional force in domestic cricket, launched their CCL campaign with an easy six-wicket sail against Gazi Tank in a curtailed over match at the Fatullah Stadium.

Sent into bat, Gazi Tank scored a modest 174 in the stipulated 41 overs with Nazimuddin hitting highest 71 off 91 balls. He struck seven fours and the lone sixer of the innings.

Opener Sanjay contributed a sedate 35.

Former national left-arm paceman Anisur Rahman and off-spinner Sanwar Hossain evenly shared six wickets for Biman.

Anis finished with 3-22 while Sanwar took three for 32.

Rashedul Haq gave Biman a flying start hitting 85 off 92 balls. The attacking opener slammed seven fours and two sixes. National discard Sanwar followed up his good bowling with a captain's knock 33 not out as Biman raced to victory 178-4 in 36.5 overs.