Taijul clears the way

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam overshadowed his senior lookalike Abdur Razzak to secure a 74-run victory for North Zone against South Zone on the fourth and final day of the Bangladesh Cricket League's (BCL) first round match at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi yesterday.

Razzak claimed five more wickets on the final day to return bowling figures of 7 for 58 and his success saw North Zone add only 26 runs at the loss of six wickets to their overnight score of 156 for 4. That set a 231-run winning target for South Zone.

South Zone made a good start in their chase as Shahriar Nafees and Mahedi Hassan scored 43 runs in nine overs, before Taijul started the carnage by removing Mahedi for 26. After losing wickets at regular intervals, Nafees, who top-scored with 74, was the ninth batsman to return to the pavilion as South Zone were bundled out for 156 runs. Taijul took five wickets for 38 runs and Nasir Hossain's off-spin played a big part in staggering the top-order as he picked up three vital wickets.

At the Shahid Chandu Stadium in Bogra, Central Zone were all out for 168 runs in their second innings, which set East Zone with a 208-run winning target in 46 overs. East Zone were on course with opener Tasamul Haque batting at one end for 91 runs to overtake the target but bad light ended the match early as they were poised at 183 for five in 41 overs.

Scores in brief
CENTRAL ZONE V EAST ZONE
CENTRAL ZONE: 394 and 168 all out in 63.2 overs (Shamsur 30, Marshall 25, Tanveer 46; Hasan 3-54, Jayed 4-43, Nazmul 2-25)
EAST ZONE: 355 and 183 for 5 in 41 overs (Tasamul 91 not out, Kapali 39; Shaykat 3-34)
Result: Match Drawn.
NORTH ZONE V SOUTH ZONE
NORTH ZONE: 392 and 182 all out in 68.2 overs (Junaed 59, Farhad 48; Razzak 7-58) 
SOUTH ZONE: 344 and 156 all out in 47.5 overs (Nafees 74, Mahedi 26; Shuvashis 2-37, Nasir 3-14, Taijul 5-38) 
Result: North Zone won by 74 runs.