Fifth round yields no result
It was a given that the two fifth round Bangladesh Cricket League matches between North Zone and Central Zone at the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi and South Zone and East Zone at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogura, would end in draws as both matches rolled onto the field from the second day due to inclement weather halting the first day's play at both venues.
However, North's Sunzamul Islam made a huge impact as he ran riot with a five-wicket haul on the final day against Central. Sunzamul's six for 103 runs helped North bundle out Central on 294 runs even though the latter had started the day in a commanding position -- a three-run lead with nine wickets in hand. Central opener Saif Hassan was the left-arm spinner's first victim, adding only nine runs on the day as he scored 75 runs off 160 balls before being trapped in front. The other overnight Central batsman Abdul Majid was the next one to fall after scoring 54 runs. After that, Central kept losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually ended the innings with 294 runs on the board.
In reply, knowing that the match could in no way yield a result, North scored a total of 113 for the loss of three wickets in the remaining 30 overs of the day. Opener Junaid Siddique top-scored for the side with a 79-ball 47-run knock.
It was the same story between South and East in Bogura as that match also ended in a draw as expected. South started the day with 136 runs for three on the board but could only add 39 more before declaring on 175 for eight, 87 runs behind East's first innings total.
Coming in to bat, East also declared after posting 159, riding on two quickfire innings from Rony Talukdar (58 runs off 39 balls) and Mohammad Ashraful (54 runs off 37 balls) in just 21.5 overs with a staggering run-rate of 7.28.
Chasing a 247-run target, South finished the day with the board reading 132 for five as the match eventually ended in a draw.
SCORES IN BRIEF
EAST ZONE V SOUTH ZONE
EAST ZONE: First innings 262 for 8 decl and second innings 159 for 5 decl (Rony 58, Ashraful 54; Mahedi 3-60)
SOUTH ZONE: First innings 175 for 8 decl and second innings 132 for 5 (Mahedi 39 not out; Reza 2-37)
Result: Match drawn.
NORTH ZONE V CENTRAL ZONE
NORTH ZONE: First innings 146 and second innings 113 for 3 (Junaid 47, Farhad 33 not out; Taibur 1-12)
CENTRAL ZONE: First innings 294 all out (Saif 75, Nazmul 67, Majid 54; Sunzamul 6-103)
Result: Match drawn.
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