Imrul, Enamul shine

Young Khulna opener Imrul Kayes salutes the crowd after scoring his maiden first-class century against Sylhet on the second day of his side's four-day match of the National League at the Fatullah Stadium yesterday.Photo: STAR

The four-day match between Khulna and Sylhet in the 9th Na-tional Cricket League sprung to life yesterday after the first day's play was abandoned due to a wet outfield at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.
Left-handed opener Imrul Kayes slammed his maiden first-class hundred while left-arm spinner Enamul Haque claimed a five-for to produce entertaining cricket on the second day.
However, the young batter's scintillating 127 was not good enough for Khulna to cash in maximum batting points as they were bundled out for a modest 274 but Enamul's effort spun his side to secure four bowling bonuses.
Sylhet capped off a great day by finishing on 6 without loss.
At the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Barisal tightened their grip on Dhaka as they scored 215-4 at stumps to take a 58-run first innings lead thanks to a patient 85 from out-of-favour Hannan Sarker.
Away in Chittagong, the second day's action was called off due to a wet outfield, following heavy overnight rain.
Rajshahi scored 191-9 on the first day against the home side.
KHULNA-SYLHET
Imrul Kayes put the bowlers to the sword during his 208-ball knock that contained 16 boundaries and two sixes, but Khulna failed to cross the 300-run mark as their last six batsmen contributed only 18 runs.
Imrul, who was caught at slip by substitute Imtiaz Hossain off Enamul with the scoreboard reading 222-4, was the second batsman to hit a century in the longer-version after his teammate Shakib Al Hasan, who continued his good form by smashing another half-century.
Shakib was bowled by Enamul but before that he hammered 59 that came from 66 deliveries with the help of seven boundaries.
Golam Rahman gave Sylhet their first breakthrough by removing Nahidul Haque (16) but Khulna skipper Habibul Bashar joined Imrul to add 87 runs for the second wicket to steady the innings.
Tapash Baisya however brought the visitors back to fight by dismissing Tushar Imran for 10. Shakib and Imrul added 56 runs for the fourth wicket but seamer Rashedur Rahman took the wickets of Sahagir Hossain and Jamaluddin Babu to rattle the middle-order.
Enamul finished with figures of 5 for 65 while Tapash took two for 61 and Rashedur captured two for 33.
DHAKA-BARISAL
After ensuring full bowling bonus points, Barisal batted according to their plan under brilliant sunshine to put huge pressure on the home team at the end of second day's play.
The visitors were as cautious as they could despite the track being good for batting and Hannan anchored the innings during his six-hour stay. The right-hander produced some elegant cover drives but made the same old mistake that put an end to his knock.
Hannan shuffled across the line against paceman Mohammad Sharif to be judged lbw, but only after scoring 85 off 273 balls that contained four sweetly timed boundaries.
Resuming the day on 27 for nought, openers Shahriar Nafees and Hannan added only 20 runs in the first hour and skipper Nafees, who made 33 off 111 balls, was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain as Barisal went to lunch at 85-1.
Barisal lost another wicket before going to the tea break with 148-2 when Ashraful had Imran Ahmed (35) caught at cover by Al-Shahriar. Imran successfully pulled Dhaka skipper twice for sixes.
Ashraful got another success with his leg-spin as he took the wicket of Rokibul Hasan (10).
SCORES IN BRIEF
DHAKA: First innings- 157.
BARISAL: First innings- 215-4 in 111 overs (Nafees 33, Hannan 85, Imran 35, Rokibul 10, Faruque 27*, Raisul 14*; Sharif 1-39, Mosharraf 1-33, Ashraful 2-57).
KHULNA: First innings- 274 all out in 82.1 overs (Imrul 127, Nahidul 16, Bashar 33, Tushar 10, Shakib 59, Sahagir 2, Babu 0, Mashrafe 1, Ziaur 1, Razzak 7, Rasel 1 not out; Tapash 2-61, Rashedur 2-33, Rahman 1-19, Enamul 5-65).
SYLHET: First innings- 6-0 in 3 overs (Rahman 3*, Mabud 3*).