Dhaka rode on Ashraful and young Marshall Ayub's 103 not out during a 274-run stand to end the day at 332 for four.

In a clear message to his detractors, Ashraful smashed the Chittagong bowlers to bits on way to his second successive hundred in the first-class competition after his 121 against Barisal last Thursday. The innings also took light out of his 'inconsistency' bane as for the second consecutive match, he pulled Dhaka out of trouble.

But at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium, it was a different story as eleven wickets fell. Khulna, having bowled Barisal out for 286 in the first innings, failed to capitalise as they trailed by 105 runs. At stumps, Khulna were at 181 for 8, with Mohammad Salim batting on 34.

Runs from Farhad Hossain, Naeem Islam and Mushfiqur Rahman gave Rajshahi a 147-run first innings lead as they scored 328 in the first innings. Sylhet were precariously placed at 6-2 in their second essay at stumps.

Chittagong V Dhaka
Dhaka again had a top-order failure as their openers Uttam Sarkar and Anwar Hossain fell by the first hour and the next two -- Mahmudullah Riyad and skipper Al Shahriar -- failed once again, leaving them wobbling at 58-4.

Ashraful, at the crease when Riyad fell to left-armer Elias Sunny, was joined by young Ayub and the two right-handers negotiated the rival attack till lunch but were set soon after.

Ashraful, clearly dominant of the two, struck the ball sweetly on a wicket made for batting. But having restrained himself for another session when he and Ayub added a further 103 runs, Ashraful unravelled his full repertoire of shots. He reached his hundred off 164 balls and then cut loose to hit nine further boundaries in the next 48 deliveries.

Young Ayub ably supported him all along, as they reached their 250-run partnership. Milestones came thick and fast as Ashraful reached his 150 soon after. The last act of a magnificent day came when the young batsman from old-Dhaka reached his first century of the season right at the end of the day. He hit eight boundaries and two sixes while his senior partner Ashraful ended the day at 166 with 21 fours.

But Ashraful, in his second rescue act for Dhaka after pulling them out of a hole in the previous match, was not relaxed and wanted to 'finish the job' he started.

"I am not thinking about anything else right now other than scoring runs. I want to finish the work at hand," said the world's youngest Test centurion whose side now lead by 94 runs.

Barisal V Khulna
Arafat Salahuddin was left stranded on 94 not out as Barisal lost their last three wickets for 41 runs. He struck 16 boundaries in his 210-ball knock.

Having done so well with the bat, Arafat went on to pick two wickets as the Barisal bowlers tore through the Khulna batting. Opener Nazmus Sadat offered some resistance scoring 36. The rest of the batsmen all had starts but failed to score on a good wicket at the Dhaka venue.

Tapash Ghosh and Hannan Sarkar took two wickets as well as Khulna slipped to 181 for eight at stumps.

Khulna are trailing by 105 runs and with only two wickets remaining, look to be giving away the first innings points at least.

Rajshahi V Sylhet
Opener Farhad Hossain and Naeem Islam added only 17 runs to their overnight total before the latter fell lbw to experienced seamer Hasibul Hossain for 51.

Farhad was also dismissed by the same bowler for a 152-ball 75 when he edged to wicketkeeper Mithun Ali. All-rounder Mushfiqur Rahman then played a virtual lone hand to remain undefeated on 50. He shared a 60-run stand with Junaid Imrose, the retired hurt opener who cam back, but the rest fell to the controlled spin of Nabil Samad and Alok Kapali.

Nabil took five for 76 while Alok picked two.

As they were behind by 147 runs, Sylhet slipped further into trouble as they lost Golam Rahman and Rezaul Haq by five overs into their second innings.