National batsman Nasir Hossain returned to some sort of form with a half-century, but his effort was not good enough as the Bangladesh Cricket Board North Zone conceded a 36-run deficit to Prime Bank South Zone in Bangladesh Cricket League’s final on Saturday. Nasir scored 70 from 113 balls, his first fifty in any form of cricket at any level in 2014, featuring nine fours and a six, before Al Amin Hossain wreaked a havoc to help South Zone dismiss their northern counterparts for 235 runs.
Al-Amin finished with 4-35 as South Zone made regular breakthroughs to halt North Zone’s progress.
Nasir made the only fifty for the side, curbing his natural aggression for some much-needed form as he played an extremely cautious innings without attempting any cross shots and constructing it on the back of straight drives and pushes.
Nasir, however, was still guilty of throwing his wicket as he spoiled all his hard work by trying to guide a Sohag Gazi delivery through the slip area that Shuvagata cupped without any trouble.
The dismissal effectively had ended all the hopes of his team overtaking opponents’ first innings total.
Nasir though denied that he made any mistake.
‘I felt what I did was right the decision considering the situation and if I had scored runs you would have called it a good shot,’ Nasir told reporters.
‘There was left-handed Nayan at the other end from where Gazi was operating. So I felt it would be better to take two runs instead of picking up singles,’ said Nasir.
‘I don’t think we are very much on the back foot though I accept that we are slightly behind. If we can make them all out quickly we can go for an outright win.’
Resuming the day at 15-0, North lost the wicket of Junaed Siddique after he had made 25 runs. Myshukur Rahman and Farhad Hossain added a resilient 60 runs from 212 balls for the second wicket to rebuild the innings.
Both the batmen displayed a very defensive mindset before off-spinner Shuvagata Hom broke their partnership by removing Farhad (38) as his slightly straighter ball took a thick edge that was gladly accepted by wicketkeeper Mohammad Mithun.
Al-Amin took two wickets in two balls as North Zone slumped from 98-2 to 104-4 bringing Nasir to the crease.
Sohag Gazi, Abdur Razzak and Shuvagata shared six wickets among them to complement Al-Amin, giving South Zone the upper hand in the end.
BRIEF SCORES
Stumps, Day 2
BCB North Zone v
Prime Bank South Zone
BCB North Zone 1st innings 235 in 97.5 overs (Nasir 70, Myshukur 42, Farhad Hossain 32, Taijul 29 not out; Al-Amin 4-35, Shuvagata 2-21) v Prime Bank South Zone 1st innings 271 in 80 overs.
-With New Age input
