Anamul, Nurul, Mahedi hit tons as BCL resumes

The second round of the ongoing Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) started on Friday as Anamul Haque Bijoy, Nurul Haque and Mahedi Hasan hit centuries for BCB South Zone, and Taskin Ahmed took five wickets for BCB North Zone.

BCB South Zone took on Islami Bank East Zone at Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium Academy Ground in Cox's Bazar. They won the toss and sent South Zone to bat first.

South Zone lost Shahriar Nafees for one run and within 16 runs they lost two more wickets. All of these three wickets were taken by right-arm medium pacer Rejaur Rahman. They lost the fourth wicket when Al Amin was removed by Saqlain Sajib for 18 runs.

South Zone were struggling after losing four wickets for 61 runs. However, in the fifth wicket partnership, Anamul and Nurul added 190 runs on the board and saved the day.

Anamul fell for 129 off 155 balls with 14 fours and four sixes. In the sixth wicket, South Zone added 175 runs with the help of Nurul and Mahedi who scored 112 off 85 balls with 10 fours and eight sixes before falling prey to Hasan Mahmud.

Nurul remained unbeaten for 155 off 220 balls with 19 fours and three sixes. Along with him, Farhad Reza also remained unbeaten for nine.

South Zone ended day one at 443 for six wickets in 87 overs. They scored at an astonishing run-rate of 5.09.

Rejaur took three wickets conceding 79 runs in 13 overs while Hasan Mahmud and Saqlain Sajib took one wicket each.

Brief score: South Zone 1st innings: 443/6 in 87 overs, Nurul 155*, Bijoy 129, Mahedi 112, Rejaur 3/79, Hasan Mahmud 1/73

Walton Central Zone vs BCB North Zone

Walton Central Zone and BCB North Zone took on each other at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. North Zone won the toss and sent Central Zone to bat first, who tumbled for 170 runs thanks to the fiery bowling by Taskin Ahmed.

The right-arm pacer took five wickets conceding 54 runs in 14 overs. Central Zone suffered a heavy collapse at the start of the innings. Salauddin Sakil removed Mohammad Naim in the first over. Central Zone lost three more wickets in just eight runs.

While Sakil took the first wicket, the other three were taken by Taskin. The right-arm pacer took his fifth scalp removing Shahidul Islam.

Raqibul Hasan was the only batsman for the Central Zone to show some resistance against the North Zone bowling attack. He scored 70 off 127 balls with 10 fours while Shuvagata Hom (21), Jaker Ali (19), Arafat Sunny (25) and Mukidul Islam (11) were the other batsmen to have reached double-digit scores.

Taskin took five, Sakil two, Sumon Khan, Ariful Haque and Enamul Haque Jnr one wicket each for North Zone

In reply, North Zone scored 89 for three in 36 overs at the end of the day. Rony Talukdar and Junaid Siddique added 69 runs in the first wicket stand. But right after the dismissal of Rony by Shuvagata, North Zone lost three wickets in 10 runs with the other two were taken by Arafat and Mustafizur Rahman.

Brief scores: Walton Central Zone 1st innings: 170/10 in 48.5 overs, Raqibul 70, Arafat 25, Shuvagata 21, Taskin 5/54, Sakil 2/35

North Zone 1st innings: 89/3 in 36 overs, Junaid 47, Rony 19, Naeem 18*, Mushfiqur 1*, Suvagata 1/1, Arafat 1/8, Mustafizur 1/46.