Razzak's seven pips Ariful's 98
Ariful Haque missed out on his century by just two runs when South Zone's Abdur Razzak trapped him leg-before, which was part of the veteran left-arm spinner's seven-wicket haul that helped bundle out North Zone for 293 on the first day of the last round of the Bangladesh Cricket League yesterday.
In reply, South lost the wicket of Shahriar Nafees and ended the day on 21 for one, trailing by 272 runs.
North won the toss and chose to bat at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram and despite a 60-run opening stand between Mizanur Rahman and Junaid Siddique, they lost their way in the middle.
Mizanur, on 29, was the first victim of South Zone skipper Razzak while Junaid was dismissed for 44 by off-spinner Mehedi Hasan. North then collapsed from 96 for two to 136 for six, losing Farhad Hossain (24), Naeem Islam (5), skipper Jahurul Islam (3) and Dhiman Ghosh (12) in quick succession.
But Ariful, who has yet to flourish for the national team, once again displayed his pedigree in the domestic circuit as the right-hander, along with Ziaur Rahman, added 135 runs for the seventh wicket.
Ziaur was dismissed for 69 off 103 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes but Ariful remained composed at the other end and was heading towards his ninth first-class hundred.
But it was Razzak who continued to hurt North as he picked up his fifth wicket by removing Sunzamul Islam and went on to dismiss Ariful for 98, which the all-rounder scored off 151 deliveries with the help of six fours and three sixes.
Razzak then removed last batsman Ebadat Hossain to finish with figures of seven for 69 from 29.4 overs.
At the Sylhet International Stadium, four batsmen scored fifties but none were able to convert those into hundreds as East Zone posted 380 for eight against Central Zone.
After choosing to bat first, skipper Mominul Haque and Imrul Kayes added 136 runs for the second wicket after losing opener Rony Talukdar for a duck. Imrul was eventually dismissed for 78 off 79 balls, which included 12 fours, and Mominul was bowled by Mosaddek Hossain soon afterwards to depart for 82 off 95 balls with the help of nine fours.
Mahmudul Hasan and Zakir Hasan then added 100 for the sixth wicket before the latter departed for 57. Mahmudul remained unbeaten on 74 and will resume batting on the second day.
Taskin Ahmed, Abu Hider, Mosaddek and Mosharraf Hossain took two wickets each for Central.
SCORES IN BRIEF
EAST ZONE V CENTRAL ZONE
EAST ZONE: First innings 380 for 8 in 82.1 overs (Mominul 82, Imrul 78, Mahmudul 74 not out, Zakir 57; Hider 2-69, Taskin 2-78)
NORTH ZONE V SOUTH ZONE
NORTH ZONE: First innings 293 all out in 83.4 overs (Ariful 98, Ziaur 69; Razzak 7 for 69 )
SOUTH ZONE: First innings 21 for 1 in 6 overs (Fazle 8 not out, Sunzamul 1-7)
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