Dhaka miseries pile on

SHOCKER: Dhaka and Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful (L) leaves behind his disturbed castle after being clean bowled by Barisal paceman Talha Jubair (R) on the third day of their four-day National League match at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.Photo: STAR

Veteran opener Javed Omar stunned everyone watching yesterday's 9th National Cricket League match by showing dissent to the umpire on his run-out decision while Mohammad Ashraful typically wasted what looked like a promising start to add more woes in Dhaka's poor performance against Barisal on the third day of the four-dayer.
An impressive Barisal, who had already secured an overall seven bonus points, were in the driving seat as the hosts were reduced to 155-4 in their second essay at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
The visitors were 147 runs ahead when they declared their first innings on 304-9 on the third morning.
With the scoreboard reading 58 for two, ace batsman Ashraful walked into the middle to revive his side's hopes in the third round game and looked positive to produce something special even though senior batsman Al-Shahriar had returned to the pavilion quickly.
Dhaka's intention was clear to put on a challenging target to make up for the first-innings deficit and undoubtedly they required extra-ordinary efforts from their prolific skipper.
Ashraful started brilliantly but showed yet another mindless approach to virtually sink the side's chances of saving the match.
The national skipper charged wild against a good-length delivery from pacer Talha Jubair as if in a hurry to score runs and completely missed the line to see his stumps shattered.
He added 28 runs from 57 balls with help of two boundaries.
"It is another example of why his average in longer version cricket is so poor," was a disappointing reaction from former national captain Roquibul Hasan.
The home side's survival relied on two unbeaten batsmen, Shamsur Rahman (35) and Mahmudullah Riyad (24), with one day remaining.
It was, however, Javed who took the spotlight for all the wrong reasons after the way he reacted despite being a senior cricketer.
The Dhaka opener lingered his stay on the crease and showed his anger in an indecent way after leg umpire Mesbahuddin Reza declared him run out.
Wicketkeeper Shaheen Hossain first appealed for a catch behind off pacer Sajidul Islam before breaking the stumps with a direct throw when Javed was walking outside the crease.
Javed and Mehrab Hossain had got off to a flying start, rattling 27 runs in the first 3.2 overs.
Arafat Salahuddin's bowling was encouraging as the portly right-arm paceman intelligently forced Mehrab to drive regularly and in the process, picked up the wicket of the left-handed opener. Sajidul, as exciting as the opening day, then had Al-Shahriar caught behind to see Dhaka collapse to 64-3.
Earlier, Raisul Islam scored 35 and Talha hit an unbeaten 29 as Barisal, resuming on 215-4, went past the 300-mark to secure batting onus points as well as defying their opponents.
SCORES IN BRIEF
DHAKA: 157 and 155-4 in 51 overs (Javed 24, Mehrab 19, Al-Shahriar 17, Ashraful 28, Shamsur 35*, Riyad 24*; Talha 1-44, Sajidul 1-61, Arafat 1-14).
BARISAL: First innings- 304-9 dec. in 148 overs (Nafees 33, Hannan 85, Imran 35, Rokibul 10, Faruque 34, Raisul 35, Arafat 13, Shaheen 13, Talha 29*, Sajidul 0, Tariqul 0*; Mahbubul 1-53, Sharif 2-45, Mosharraf 3-40, Ashraful 2-86).