Ashraful's woes on

Mohammad Ashraful continued his poor run of form but Dhaka rode on Mehrab Hossain's hundred to recover from early hiccups against Chittagong on the second day of the second round match of the second phase of 11th National Cricket League at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna yesterday.
Away at BKSP in Savar, pacer Mohammad Shahajada hogged the spotlight with a six-wicket haul to give Rajshahi an advantage against Khulna.
Right-hander Ashraful, who joined his divisional team soon after returning from New Zealand in an attempt to get back among runs before the England series, faced five balls before falling victim of a run out as Dhaka were reduced to 37 for four.
Our-of-favour Mehrab Hossain however then went to the rescue as the left-hander hit 101 off 196 balls with 13 boundaries while Mohammad Sharif contributed 50 off 72 balls that contained four boundaries and a six, but still Dhaka fell 73 runs short of Chittagong's first innings total of 312.
Kazi Kamrul caused the main damage by taking four wickets for 31 runs as Dhaka were bundled out for 239 runs.
Earlier Chittagong could add 18 more runs on the day after resuming their innings on 294 for eight.
In the match at the BKSP, Shahajada demolished the Khulna top-order after they resumed the day on 11 for no loss. At one stage Khulna stumbled to 48 for five, but a 66-run sixth wicket stand between wicketkeeper-batsman Sahagir Hossain and Nizamuddin Ripon helped them rebuild their innings a bit.
Sahagir scored 41 off 77 balls with seven fours while Ripon made team highest 65 off 169 deliveries that contained four boundaries as Khulna posted 243 before being all out in 75.3 overs in reply to 269.
Syed Rasel was the other notable scorer with 33 off 34 balls that featured five boundaries.
Rajshahi extended their lead to 76 runs as they scored 50 for one wicket in their second innings before stumps were drawn for the day with Zahurul Islam batting on 42.