Liton Das: Player-of-the-match

Islami Bank East Zone completed a comprehensive victory over Walton Central Zone at the Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra on the third day of the first round of the Bangladesh Cricket League, the premier four-day cricket competition of the country. 

It was a team effort that helped East Zone beat Central by nine wickets. In the first innings, Abu Jayed's five-wicket haul and Liton Das's staggering 219 helped them take a lead. In the second innings, almost all the strike bowlers came to the party to bundle Central out for just 198 in 77.5 overs. Saqlain Sajib and Abul Hasan took three each, while Jayed and Ebadat Hossain finished with two scalps to their names. Shamsur Rahman was the only one who showed some fight for Central, scoring 51 off 104 balls at the top. However, Central's middle order just could not survive the disciplined bowling attack from East Zone.

As a result, East Zone needed just 56 to win the game. Liton, the hero of the first innings, was dismissed by Shamsur for just six. However, Mehedi Maruf and Zakir Hossain put on a 50-run stand for the second wicket to calmly take East Zone home.

The day's other game at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium is headed for a draw. BCB North Zone batted out the first two days against Prime Bank South Zone. With Naeem Islam's overnight score of 176, captain Jahurul Islam decided against declaring.

Naeem, however, was trapped by his former national colleague Abdur Razzak for 185 in the 190th over, which is when North decided to declare.

After the exchange, South Zone's batsmen showed just how good a wicket the match was being played on when the openers raced off the blocks. Shahriar Nafees and Fazle Mahmud put on 80 runs in the first 19 overs. While they did lose two quick wickets to get reduced to 108 for two, Fazle stuck around and built partnerships with Tushar Imran, Mohammad Mithun and Mosaddek Hossain.

He put on 84 runs with Tushar, 55 with Mithun and an unbeaten 47 with Mosaddek. In the process he ended up scoring 121 with 14 fours and two sixes. For the sake of his team, he will want to carry on with his bat on the final day

Taijul Islam, who recently returned from New Zealand and finished with figures of three for 81, was the pick of the bowlers for BCB North Zone.

SCORES IN BRIEF 

WALTON CENTRAL ZONE VS ISLAMI BANK EAST ZONE

WALTON CENTRAL ZONE: 224 and 198 all out in 77.5 overs (Shamsur 51, Marshall 35; Saqlain 3-39, Abul 3-42, Ebadat 2-40, Jayed 2-48) 

ISLAMI BANK EAST ZONE: 367 and 57 for 1 (Zakir 33 not out, Mehedi 14 not out; Shamsur 1-16)

RESULT: East Zone won by nine wickets.

BCB NORTH ZONE V PRIME BANK SOUTH ZONE

BCB NORTH ZONE: 492 for 9 declared (Naeem 185, Jahurul 65; Razzak 5-185)

PRIME BANK SOUTH ZONE: 294 for 4 (Fazle 121 not out, Tushar 47; Taijul 3-81)