South Zone hammer 749

Prime Bank South Zone hammered the second highest first-class score in an innings, 749, in Bangladesh and in the process Shahriar Nafees hit his second double hundred on the third day of the final round of the Bangladesh Cricket League in BKSP yesterday.

However, as far as winning the championship is concerned, their mountainous scores won't make any difference since league leaders BCB North Zone bundled Islami Bank East Zone for just 216 runs yesterday, gaining a first innings lead and by doing so they have almost sealed their name on this year's trophy.

At the moment North Zone are on top with 19 points and by the end of the day, they were leading by 397 runs. After North Zone's Shafiul Islam scalped a six-wicket haul, the Northerners rode on Nazmul Hossain Shanto's unbeaten 91 and Nasir Hossain's 63 to finish the day on 239 for 6.

Nazmul will be hoping to reach his hundred when North come out to bat today. Until yesterday, Nazmul had scored 91 runs with ten boundaries while Nasir scored a fluid 63 with eight fours.

For East Zone to create any kind of upset, they will probably need to chase down more than 450 runs at least, depending on how well North Bat today, the final day.

In addition to that, South Zone will need to beat Walton Central Zone at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium, which at the moment seems quite improbable. Because even though South Zone romped up 749 runs in the first innings, Central finished the day on 184 for 3. Therefore South Zone will need to bundle them out twice in a day.

The wicket at Fatullah seemed to support the batsmen even on day three as Shahriar Nafees, who had an overnight score of 170, ended up remaining unbeaten on 207. On the whole, he hit five sixes and 18 fours. He was well supported by Nazmul Islam, who remained unbeaten on 36 off 95 balls. Had Nazmul not supported the left-hander, he would not have been able to reach his double hundred.

After the exchange, Shadman Islam and Saif Hassan scored half-centuries to lead Central's reply.

At the moment, it seems as though both the games are going to end as draws.