Mominul stakes his claim
Mahmudullah Riyad and Mushfiqur Rahim scored some runs and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza turned in a player-of-the-match performance, while a few others who were also scheduled to take the England flight late last night had little impact on their last appearances in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League yesterday, except the recalled Nasir Hossain, who continued his good form with an all-round performance.
All those national players scheduled to leave the country last night to play the tri-series in Ireland and the ICC Champions Trophy in England before a after a 10-day camp in Sussex, however failed to hog the spotlight. Instead, it was little Mominul Haque who reminded the national selectors that he is not a stranger to the 50-over format. The left-hander, who has been categorised exclusively as a longer-version cricketer -- and dropped from the Test team recently -- by the think tank and last played an ODI in February 2015, showed yesterday at the BKSP that he has got the ability to meet the demands of 50-over cricket with a blazing 120-ball 152.
His scintillating knock -- which was his best in List A cricket -- and a 153-run partnership with Nasir Hossain, who scored 76 off 64 balls before taking three wickets, guided Gazi Group Cricketers to their straight fourth win with a 35-run victory over Prime Doleshwar.
Mominul came to the crease in the second over after the dismissal of Anamul Haque and with Nasir repaired his team's early damage after they lost both openers for nine runs. Mominul reached his fifty in 54 balls and then reached his ton in 89 balls; his third fifty came from only 28 balls. In the fourth-wicket stand with Parvez Rasool he shared 101 runs in 12.4 overs as Gazi were all out for 307.
During his third List A hundred, Mominul hit 16 fours and six sixes and it was none other than national Test and Legends of Rupganj skipper Mushfiqur Rahim who watched the Mominul's mastery as his match at the other BKSP ground against Kalabagan Krira Chakra was delayed due to a wet outfield. They later won the curtailed 27-over-a-side match by three wickets, with Mehrab Hossain jnr of Kalabagan notably carrying his bat through the innings in a losing cause.
Losing five wickets for 98 runs, Doleshwar made a disastrous start but finally they finished their quota with 272 for nine.
Away at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium, a tornado from Ziaur Rahman snapped defending champions Abahani's winning run as they lost to Shekih Jamal Dhanmondi Club by six wickets.
Mahmudullah made yet another half-century as the right-hander scored 62 off 66 balls with the help of two fours and three sixes while opener Liton Das also contributed 62 off 82 balls, helping Abahani to score 269 runs.
Leg-spinner Tanbir Haider, who had failed to fulfil the expectations of the national team management during the New Zealand trip, however made sure that the score will not go beyond the reach of Sheikh Jamal as he claimed four wickets for 45 runs in 10 overs.
In reply, Shekih Jamal lost national opener Imrul Kayes early but Fazle Mahmud (63) and Prashant Chopra (57) steadied the innings with a 104-run stand for the second wicket, before Ziaur Rahman took charge to take his team to victory with two overs in hand.
Zia smote six sixes and three fours during his unbeaten 57-ball 73-run.
SCORES IN BRIEF
GAZI GROUP: 307 all out in 48.2 overs (Mominul 152, Nasir 64, Rasool 53; Delwar 3-39, Farhad 4-41)
PRIME DOLESHWAR: 272-9 in 50 overs (Imtiaz 42, Nafees 36, Samiullah 55, Jaker 52, Enamul 30; Shafiul 2-51, Nasir 3-40)
Result: Gazi Group Cricketers won by 35 runs.
ABAHANI: 269 all out in 50 overs (Liton 62, Mahmudullah 62, Shuvagata 32; Shahadat 2-58, Razzak 2-48, Tanbir 4-45)
SHEIKH JAMAL: 270-4 in 48 overs (Fazle 63, Chopra 57, Nurul 46, Zia 73 not out)
Result: Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club won by six wickets.
KALABAGAN: 176-8 in 27 overs (Mehrab 79, Masakadza 29; Sharif 2-46, Mosharraf 2-28, Mashrafe 2-36)
LEGEND OF RUPGANJ: 178-7 in 26.4 overs (Hasanuzzaman 30, Mushfiqur 44, Zaidi 37; Abul 2-41, Muktar 2-23, Sanjit 2-30)
Result: Legend of Rupganj won by three wickets.
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