Barisal fly high

A tight one-wicket win over Sylhet kept Barisal in top position of the National Cricket League one-day competition yesterday.
The southern division now have 12 points after eight rounds, two ahead of defending champions Rajshahi and Chittagong.
Both sides also won their matches; Rajshahi beat Dhaka by eleven runs at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium while Chittagong walked past Khulna by five wickets in BKSP.
Chittagong captain Nafis Iqbal kept up his good form with an unbeaten half-century that took his runs tally past the 300-mark. His teammate Tariq Aziz tops the bowling charts with sixteen wickets but the one-time national paceman went wicketless.
Yesterday's matches were also curtailed due to heavy fog in the morning with the worst hit being the Khulna-Chittagong tie that was reduced to 25-overs-a-side.
BARISAL-SYLHET
Opting to field after fog delayed the game by an hour at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium, Barisal left-arm spinners Tariqul Islam and Saju Dutta took three wickets each as Sylhet were bowled out for 188 in 41.3 overs.
Imtiaz Hossain blasted an 80-ball 65 with ten boundaries, aided by Golam Rahman's 42 off 55 balls. They added 90 for the second wicket but once that wicket fell, Barisal chipped away with wickets.
After Barisal were wobbling at 69 for three, Nasir Hossain struck a crucial 36 off 55 balls without a boundary. He added 65 runs for the fifth wicket with Raisul Islam who made 27.
In the end it was down to Barisal's bowling heroes Tariqul and Saju to take them home and they did it off the game's last ball.
CHITTAGONG-KHULNA
Nafis Iqbal blazed five boundaries in his 42-ball unbeaten 52 that took his side to victory with one ball to spare in the 25-overs-a-side game.
The captain's work was made easy when Ashraful Hossain and Arman Hossain added 65 runs in just 9.4 overs. Only Murad Khan took three wickets for Khulna
Earlier, Mukhtar Ali took four for 22 as Khulna struggled to keep the runs flowing.
They were stopped at 146-9 from 25 overs with Amit Mazumder making 51 off 45 balls.
RAJSHAHI-DHAKA
It was cloudy too in Fatullah and the game only began at the stroke of noon. Rajshahi rode on man-of-the-match Farhad Hossain's 79 to post 155-7 from 32 overs. The right-hander struck a six and seven boundaries in his 88-ball knock.
Elias Sunny, Arafat Sunny and Marshall Ayub all took two wickets each.
Dhaka found it hard to score the runs as only Shamsur Rahman struck 40 but the rest simply failed.
Left-armer Sanjamul Islam took three for 30 while Saqlain Sajib picked up two wickets.
BRIEF SCORES
SYLHET: 188 all out in 41.3 overs (Imtiaz 65; Saju 3-42, Tariqul 3-43).
BARISAL: 189-9 in 45 overs (Nasir 36; Sharif 3-25).
Result: Barisal won by one wicket.
KHULNA: 146-9 in 25 overs (Amit 51; Mukhtar 4-22).
CHITTAGONG: 150-5 in 45 overs (Nafis 52*; Murad 3-15).
Result: Chittagong won by five wickets.
RAJSHAHI: 155-7 in 32 overs (Farhad 79; Elias 2-20).
DHAKA: 144-9 in 32 overs (Shamsur 40; Sanjamul 3-30).
Result: Rajshahi won by 11 runs.