Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam bagged 11 wickets in the match as BCB North Zone moved into the final of the Bangladesh Cricket League with an easy 51-run win over Walton Central Zone at the BKSP on Tuesday. North Zone will meet Prime Bank South Zone in the final, a five-day match, which will be held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from May 9-13.Taijul finished with 5-89 in the second innings as Central Zone were all out for 215, chasing a target of 267 runs on the fourth and final day.
The outright victory gave North Zone 24 points, raising their tally to 51 from three matches.
Central could add only five bonus points to their previous 31 which were not enough to overtake other finalists South Zone, who have 41 points from the same number of outings.
Taijul, who also took 6-88 in the first innings, was named man-of-the-match for his third 10-wicket haul in fledging first-class career.
Holders Central Zone, who were in a pole position for a place in the final until this match, needed an outright win after conceding a huge 179-run deficit in the first innings.
They were back in the contest when five wickets from Elias Sunny and a hat-trick by Mahmudllah spanning two innings helped the side dismiss North Zone just for 87 runs.
It gave Central Zone a realistic chance, though a target over 250 runs on a spinning fourth day track was always going to be difficult to achieve.
Things looked ominous for Central Zone when Taijul struck in his first over reducing them to 1-1 at close on the third day.
Taijul struck again on the fourth day, but Central Zone regrouped thanks a half-century from nightwatchman Sunny, who scored 60 off 139 balls with five fours and two sixes.
Taijul broke Sunny’s dogging 93-run third wicket partnership with Shamsur Rahman (36).
Sanjamul Islam, who was picked up for the match ahead of Sohrawardi Shuvo despite claiming only nine wickets in the National Cricket League, caught and bowled Sunny, bringing North Zone back in the contest.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan scored 28, batting at number nine but this was from enough.
BRIEF SCORES
Walton Central Zone v BCB North Zone
Walton Central Zone 2nd innings 215 in 54 overs (Sunny 60, Shamsur 36; Taijul 5-89, Shuvashis 3-25) & 1st innings 278 in 82 overs v BCB North Zone 2nd innings 87 in 27.1 overs & 1st innings 457 in 149.2 overs.
Result: BCB North Zone by 51 runs.
Man of the match: Taijul Islam (BCBNZ)
-With New Age input
