Opening batsman Shamsur Rahman scored a century for Central Zone against South Zone on the opening day of the second round match of Bangladesh Cricket League when both the matches saw some balance between bat and bowl. Shamsur scored 103 to help his side post 233-5 off 63.2 overs at stumps in Rajshjahi while East Zone finished the day on 203-8 from 76 overs against North Zone at Bogra in the other match of the round.
Shamsur’s opening partner Rony Talukder scored a duck and Marshall Ayub soon followed him for five to become 16-2 before Shamsur added 145 runs in the third wicket partnership with Shuvagata Hom to steady the ship.
Shuvagata, who was dropped from Bangladesh side after two matches in the ongoing Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe, struck nine boundaries and a six in his 100-ball innings.
Shamsur hit the same number of boundaries and got out after playing 177 balls, overs before the day’s play was called off due to bad weather.
Robiul Islam got two wickets while Abdur Razzak, Sohag Gazi and Arif Ahmed grabbed one wicket apiece for South.
At Bogra, Shadman Islam and Liton Das made a solid opening stand as the duo scored a 73-run partnership but the East batters floundered that base to reduce to 203-8.
They lost four wickets in space of just 17 runs at one stage to stutter at 177-7 from 160-3 with the spin web of Sunzamul Islam and Nasir Hossain.
Tasammul Haque made 45. Liton scored 43 and despite all their top four batsmen reached 30, none could turn that into a half-century leaving the side struggling before the bad light halted the day’s play.
Left arm spinner Sunzamul got 3-33, off-spinner Nasir Hossain got 2-27 while Subhahish Roy, Mahmudul Hasan and Taijul Islam got one wicket each for North.
-With New Age input
