Yeasin shines bright for North Zone

BCB North Zone stretched their lead at the top of the points table after defeating Islami Bank East Zone by an innings and 28 runs with a day to spare in round five of the Bangladesh Cricket League Thursday. North Zone’s dominant win had come riding on the heroics of their pacers. The third and penultimate day of the game at Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka resumed with East Zone batting on 110 without any loss in 27 overs in the first innings, in reply to North Zone’s 415 in 122.4 overs. But the side suffered a drastic debacle as young pacers Yeasin Arafat and Shariful Islam bagged four wickets each to restrict East Zone to 217 in 63.2 overs with opener Liton Das scoring 69, the innings’ highest. With the follow-on imposed by North Zone, East Zone were sent in to bat for the second time of the day and the former’s pacers maintained the momentum to get the batting side dismissed again, this time for 170 in 38.1 overs. Yeasin and Shariful maintained the aggression this time around as well, picking up three wickets each, along with pacer Shafiul Islam, who also took three scalps. Saifuddin’s 32 was the highest of the East Zone innings as the side faced a humiliating defeat. Yeasin was adjudged man of the match for his seven wickets in the game. Meanwhile, riding on wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Mithun’s 12th first-class century, Prime Bank South Zone ended day three in Rajshahi’s Shaheed Kamruzzaman Cricket Stadium with a 237-run lead. South Zone resumed the day on 50 for the loss of one wicket in 19 overs and went on to post 348 losing six wickets in 83 overs at stumps. The innings was propelled by Mithun’s 118 and another 88 from the veteran Tushar Imran. Walton Central Zone left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain notched three wickets while leg-spinner Tanbir Hayder grabbed two. Central Zone had earlier posted 302 in 88.3 overs in their first innings. In reply, South Zone registered 191 in 49.5 overs.BCL, ROUND 5, DAY 3East Zone 217 in 63.2 overs (Shariful 4/33, Yeasin 4/39) & 170 (f/o) in 38.1 overs (Gazi 50, Yeasin 3/16) lost to North Zone 415 by an innings and 28 runsSouth Zone 191 & 348/6 in 83 overs (Mithun 118, Tushar 88) lead Central Zone 302 by 237 runs