Nurul Hasan hit a robust century as Prime Bank South Zone posted an impressive first-innings total of 448 on the second day of their Bangladesh Cricket League game against Walton Central Zone at the BKSP in Savar yesterday.
But experienced left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak was kept waiting in his bid to reach the 500-wicket mark, a feat no other bowler has achieved before in the country’s first-class circuit, as he was able to bowl only three overs when Central started their chase and finished the day on 14 without loss in the seven overs they faced.
Razzak, on 499, opened the bowling for South in an attempt to complete the unique feat a day after teammate Tushar Imran became the first cricketer to have reached the 10,000-run milestone. But Razzak had to be content with having another crack at history today, after bad light stopped play ahead of schedule.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul pulled his side up from an uncomfortable 179-5 with some brilliant strokeplay in his 129-ball 133. The tall right hander hit 15 boundaries and three sixes before becoming the eighth batsmen out at 406. Al-Amin, who shared 82 runs for the sixth wicket with Nurul, scored a fine 52.
South resumed the day on 108-2. Opener Shahriar Nafees added 27 runs to his overnight score of 53 while milestoneman Tushar got out for 56. Left-arm pace bowler Abu Hider and lanky right-arm fast bowler Ebadat Hossain picked up three wickets each for Central.
Away at the Sylhet International Stadium, East Zone wagged a long tail to take a crucial 24-run first-innings lead against North Zone.
Resuming the day on 24-4 in reply to North’s 187, they slipped to 66-6 before two vital stands, including 60 runs for the last wicket between Mehedi Hasan — who scored an unbeaten 46 that contained fixes against no boundaries — and number eleven Khaled Ahmed (26).
Yasir Ali scored 45 and was involved in a 65-run seventh wicket stand with off-spinner Shohag Gazi, who chipped in with 30.
North however wiped out the deficit without any damage as their openers Nazmul Hossain (16) and Mizanur Rahman carefully negotiated the early onslaught to finish the day on 36 for no loss.
SCORES IN BRIEF
PRIME BANK SOUTH ZONE V WALTON CENTRAL ZONE
SOUTH ZONE: 448 all out in 115.4 overs (Nafees 80, Tushar 56, Mosaddek 17, Al-Amin 52, Nurul 133, Ziaur 22, Razzak 23, Al-Amin Hossain 24 not out; Haider 3-100, Ebadat 3-87, Mosharraf 2-128)
CENTRAL ZONE: 14 for no loss in 7 overs (Shadman 10 not out, Robiul 2 not out)
ISLAMI BANK EAST ZONE V BCB NORTH ZONE
NORTH ZONE: 187 and 36 for no loss in 7 overs (Nazmul 16 not out, Mizanur 19 not out)
EAST ZONE: 211 all out in 63.4 overs (Zakir 27, Yasir 45, Shohag 30, Mehedi 46 not out, Khaled 26;
Shafiul 3-68, Farhad 3-47, Ariful 3-44)
Source: The Daily Star.
