New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris smashed a stylish century to steer Gazi Tank Cricketers to their third victory in four matches, this time beating Cricket Coaching School by five wickets at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday. Elsewhere, Prime Doleshwar notched their third consecutive league win by beating Prime Bank Cricket Club at BKSP, also by five wickets. In the day’s other match, defending champions Victoria Sporting Club bounced back from a heavy defeat against Brothers Union to beat Kalabagan KC at Fatullah.
Gazi Tanks v CCS
Gazi Tanks’ chase got off to a poor start when they lost two wickets for just 26 runs after half-centuries from Mohammad Salman (73) and Sri Lankan Gihan Rupasinghe (55) took lowly CCS to 255-7 in their 50 overs.
Imrul Kayes, who was dropped at deep fine leg on eight after trying to hook Thilan Tushara, made CCS pay with a 122-run stand with Styris. Kayes was eventually dismissed for 54, but former the New Zealand international held on to complete his century in 111 balls.
Styris offered a catch immediately after reaching the three-figure mark, but the ball was adjudged to have bounced before reaching the fielder. Tushara, however, did not need to wait too long to finally get the wicket of Styris, who skied a catch to Nazmul Hossain Milon at cover two balls later.
They stocky Kiwi all-rounder faced 119 balls and struck nine fours and a six for his 102 runs.
Despite the brilliant innings from Stryris, Gazi still needed 42 runs from the last five overs, but Roqibul Hassan, arguably one of the most technically solid Bangladeshi batsmen, responded to the occasion and took the side home.
Roqibul built his innings typically slowly before exploding to hit four fours and two sixes to finish unbeaten on 58 as Gazi reached 259-5 with five balls to spare.
Prime Doleshwar v Prime Bank
Promoted Prime Doleshwar, who had scalped Abahani and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in their previous two matches, were primed for another high-profile victim when they dismissed Prime Bank, last year’s runners-up, for 182 runs at the notorious BKSP-3 ground.
Sohag Gazi and Tillakaratne Sampath bowled extremely tight to take three wickets each, while all-rounder Farhad Reza chipped in with two wickets.
Prime Bank must have rued their over-cautious approach, as earlier matches at the ground had made batting first look relatively easy. Opener Saikat Ali made 52 off 91 balls, while Sri Lankan recruit Lahiru Thirimanne saw off 68 balls for his 51.
In reply, Roshane Shiwanka Silva scored an unbeaten 63 as Prime Doleshawar cantered to 183 with five wickets and nearly five overs to spare.
Victoria SC v Kalabagan
Victoria recorded the easiest win of the day, despite scoring just 231 runs, as a Sakib al Hasan-less Kalabagan KC line-up folded for a meagre 146 runs to crash to their third defeat in four matches.
National opener Anamul Haque finally found some form to score 70 off 84 balls, while Shalika Karunanayake added another 70 as Victoria posted their highest total of the young season after electing to bat first at Fatullah.
Victoria captain Nasir Hossain had a rare batting failure, making just seven, but he compensated by taking three wickets for 21 runs to contribute to Victoria’s victory.
BRIEF SCORES
Cricket Coaching School v Gazi Tank Cricketers
CCS 255-7 in 50 overs (Salman 73, G Rupasinghe 55, A Majumdar 37, T Tushara 20 not out; A Sunny 3-50, R Hossain 2-45) v Gazi Tank Cricketers 259-5 in 49.1 overs (S Styris 102, R Hasan 58 not out, I Kayes 54, H Islam 23 not out; A Ahmed 2-47).
Result: Gazi Tank Cricketers won by 5 wickets.
Man of the match: S Styris (GTC).
***
Victoria Sporting Club v Kalabagan KC
Victoria SC 231 in 48.4 overs (S Karunanayake 70, A Haque 70, J Ahmed 26; J Mubarak 3-38, F Hossain 2-14, C de Silva 2-31, S Rasel 2-54) v Kalabagan KC 146 in 46.5 overs (T Haque 34,M Karim 26, J Mubarak 22, M Ali 21; E Haque 3-20, N Hossain 3-21, M Hossain 2-27, M Siriwardana 2-33).
Result: Victoria Sporting Club won by 85 runs.
Man of the match: S Karunanayake (VSC)
***
Prime Bank CC v Prime Doleshwar SC
Prime Bank 182 in 48.5 overs (S Ali 52, L Thirimanne 51, T Parvez 34; S Gazi 3-29, T Sampath 3-34, F Reza 2-23) v Prime Doleshwar 183-5 in 45.4 overs (R Shiwanka Silva 63 not out, T Sampath 34, M Maruf 31; Enamul Haque Jr 2-42).
Result: Prime Doleshwar SC won by 5 wickets.
Man of the match: T Sampath (PDSC).
-With New Age input
