Dhaka – BCB North Zone maintained the top slot in the points table of the four-day-match Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) with a brilliant victory against defending champions Walton Central Zone by an innings and 85 runs in the 5th round match at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.This is North Zone’s 2nd innings win in this edition BCL as they earlier outplayed the same opponent by an innings and 50 runs in the 2nd round match in Chittagong,UNB news agency.With the day’s victory, North Zone collected unbeaten 19 points from five outings, having two wins and three draws, followed by Prime Bank South Zone with 13 points also from five matches, securing one win and four draws.South Zone played out a draw against Islami Bank East Zone in the 5th round match that ended on day-4 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong also on Wednesday. In the 5th round, North Zone batter Naeem Islam sparkled with bat hammering a century of 142 runs, following his unbeaten 129 in the 2nd innings to avoid an innings defeat against Prime Bank South Zone in the 4th round match that finally ended in draw on day-4 at BKSP Ground -4 on February 22. Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Dhiman Ghosh also hit century for North Zone with 123 and 113 runs respectively to mount up their 1st innings collection to 537/10 in 134.5 overs on day-3.Winning team spinner Sunzamul Islam showed a brilliant form capturing eight wickets in two innings. His wickets haul of 5/45 helped the North Zone restrict Central Zone at 181/10 in 63.5 overs in the 1st innings while he bagged 3/114 on the way of the Central Zone’s 2nd innings collection of 271/10 in 76 overs. On the final day, Central Zone resumed the second innings with overnight score of 229/8 in 64 overs and added 42 for two wickets playing 12 overs.Overnight batsman Mohammad Sharif stayed for unbeaten 45 runs in the innings while Shahadat Hossain and skipper Mosharraf Hossain added 7 and 3 runs respectively.Brief Score:Central Zone 1st innings: 181/10 in 63.5 overs; Saif Hassan 63, Taibur Rahman not out 40, Sunzamul Islam 5/45, Farhad Reza 3/41.Central Zone 2nd innings: 271/10 in 76 overs (overnight 229/8 in 64 overs); Saif Hassan 70, Abdul Mazid 43, Tanvir Hyder 51, Mohammad Sharif 45(not out), Alauddin Babu 4/67, Sunzamul Islam 3/114.BCB North Zone 1st innings: 537/10 in 134.5 overs; Naeem Islam 142, Nazmul Hossain Shanto 123, Dhiman Ghosh 113, Alauddin Babu 54, Junaid Siddique 41, Moshrraf Hossain 3/125, Sharifullah 2/ 65, Shahadat Hossain 2/111, Mohammad Sharif 2/125.In Chittagong, replying to Islami Bank East Zone’s 1st innings collection of 523/7-declared in 178 overs, Prime Bank South Zone (having 296 in the 1st innings) resumed the 2nd innings with overnight collection of 29/0 in 8 overs and collected 198/5 in 96 overs to play out draw.Shahriar Nafees and overnight Fazle Mahmud scored 36 runs each while another overnight batsman Anamul Haque (35), Tushar Imran (31),Mohammad Mithun (29 not out) and Ziaur Rahman (11 not out) were the other double figure scorers for the side.Nayeem Hasan bagged two wickets for 48 runs while Rahatul Ferdous, Alok Kapali and Rahatul Ferdous took one wicket for 23, 23 and 13 runs respectively.Brief Score:South Zone 1st innings: 296/10 in 80 ovrs; Imrul Kayes 136, Anamul Haque 51, Saqlain Sajib 3/17, Mohammad Saifuddin 3/70 South Zone 2nd innings: 198/5 in 96 overs (overnight 29/0 in 8 overs); Shahriar Nafees 36, Fazle Mahmud 36, Anamul Haque 35, Tushar Imran 31, Mohammad Mithun 29 (not out), Ziaur Rahman 11 (not out), Nayeem Hasan 2/48, East Zone 1st innings: 523/7-declared in 178 overs; Afif Hossain 137, Tasamul Haque 98, Alok Kapali 66, Rahatul Ferdous 60(not out), Mohammad Saifuddin 50(not out), Abul Hasan 41, Nazmul Islam Apu 2/98, Abdur Razzak 2/135.
Points table after 5th round
Teams Mat Win Loss Draw Pts
North Zone 5 2 0 3 19
South Zone 5 1 0 4 13
East Zone 5 1 2 2 12
Central Zone 5 1 3 1 9
