Rain dampened half of the first-round matches in the 17th National Cricket League yesterday. The second day produced a high-flying performance from Barisal’s Towhidul Islam, who racked up six wickets to complement Mosaddek Hossain’s hundred and give his team the rare opportunity to win.
In Khulna and Fatullah, the day’s play could not be completed for bad weather.
Towhidul yorks Rajshahi as Barisal grab upper-hand
6’1’’ tall fast bowler Towhidul, more familiar by his nickname Rasel, dismantled Rajshahi on the second day as Barisal skittled the former champions cheaply for just 93 runs in the first innings. Although Barsial, who had finished at the bottom in the last two editions, were also bowled out for a mere 160 in 44.4 overs in the second innings, it was their first innings lead of 210 that set a stiff target of 370 for the home side.
And it was all possible for the 24-year old lanky pace bowler from the rural Kaukhali district in Barisal who registered his career best 6 for 31 in 15 overs, in his 10th first-class appearance, after day two resumed at the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi.
Along with his sidekick Golam Kibria, another fast bowler who had played just eight matches before this, the duo bagged nine wickets to demolish the hosts. Mushfiqur Rahim, whose stumps were uprooted by the right-arm Rasel, made the highest 32 for the hosts.
However, left-arm spinner Sanjamul Islam took four while Farhad Reza and Forhad Hossain scalped three each in the second innings to restrict their opponent from setting a higher target as Rajshahi, who were 25 for no loss at stumps, need 345 runs with a galaxy of time in their hand.
Rangpur take the cautious route
Away in Bogra, Dhaka Metropolis managed to gather just half of Rangpur’s wickets as the latter surpassed Metro’s 238 in the first innings and took a 28-run lead with five wickets still in hand.
The over-cautious and slow approach from Rangpur’s batsmen saw them score 266 for five in the 85 overs played before the close of play with Dhiman Ghosh (85) and Ariful Islam (48) still in the middle. Apart from Ghosh, the other contributors – Ariful, Mahmudual Hasan (41) and Naeem Islam (46) – had strike rates of below 50 as the Metro bowlers toiled hard for wickets throughout.
Khulna on verge of first-innings lead
Home side Khulna trail Dhaka division by 19 runs as they were placed at 168 for four before play was suspended due to bad weather. After losing around 28 overs on day one, rain took away 41 overs yesterday.
Resuming day two, Dhaka added 13 to their overnight tally before losing their last two wickets to Abdur Razzak and Mustafizur Rahman. Bangladesh’s left-arm wonder-kid Mustafizur finished with figures of 4-29 while southpaw Razzak claimed 4-72.
Shakib al Hasan promoted himself to No 3 during Khulna’s batting but was only able to notch 13 runs before being dismissed off Mosharraf Hossain’s bowling.
Lazy day in Fatullah
Only 30.2 overs were bowled in Fatullah as Sylhet are still stuck in their first innings on a healthy 352 for eight. Resuming the day on 240-4, overnight batsmen Rajin Saleh (74) and Ruman Ahmed (80) were dismissed early, but Rahatul Ferdous (56) made sure Sylhet cross the 300-mark.
Inconsistent drizzle eventually saw the game called off at 4:25pm.
