Exciting finishes light up BCL third round

The fourth day of both the BCL matches ended after nail-biting finishes as South Zone managed to grind out a draw under strenuous circumstances against Central Zone and East Zone scampered to a win against North Zone after Yasir Ali's stormy ton at Cox's Bazar today.

Having started the day at 159/4, South Zone required another 348 for victory with six wickets remaining against North. Shamsur Rahman and Nasum Ahmed paired up in a fantastic 139-run fifth-wicket partnership with the latter hitting 133 off 230. Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz brought crucial breakthroughs for North, scalping four wickets in the second innings.

With an hour left to go, South were 356/7 before Nasum was removed by Arafat Sunny for 83 and Abdur Razzak departed to Suvagata Hom two overs later to leave them with just one wicket in hand. Farhad Reza and Shafiul Islam stood guard and managed to play out almost 10 overs during their last-wicket 14-run partnership to hand a draw to South Zone.

In the other match, North Zone were bowled out for 269 runs at Lunch in their second innings on day four, courtesy of Nayeem Hasan's fifer. East Zone required 211 runs in the final session and they reached the target in just 34.5 overs.

Yasir followed up his 165 in the first innings with an 88-ball 110, laced with eight fours and five sixes. He starred in a 170-run second-wicket stand with Mohammad Ashraful, who remained unbeaten on 86-ball 70. Yasir's departure did not hinder East Zone as Imrul Kayes (17 off 16) and Ashraful saw them off to victory by eight wickets.