Rain throughout the country had an impact on the first day in three of the four scheduled National Cricket League matches with not a single ball bowled in two games.
Dhaka Metropolis, keeping NCL by-laws in mind denied Dhaka points by not getting all-out and declaring on just 59/8 under gloomy conditions at Shaheed Chandu Stadium in Bogra.
Dhaka Metro v Dhaka, Tier 2
Dhaka won the toss and took full advantage of the gloomy conditions against Dhaka Metro as the bowling ran through the latter’s batting order in a tier two game.
For Dhaka, Salauddin Sakil (4/15) and Sumon Khan (3/32) did the bulk of the damage against the Dhaka Metro batsmen with their bowling.
Mohammad Ashraful was the top-scorer for Dhaka Metro with a score of just 14 as their innings lasted a mere 29.3 overs and for 151 minutes.
The awkward decision of Metro skipper Marshall Ayub to declare with a paltry score might have two reasons- denying opponents getting bonus points and taking advantage of bowling friendly conditions. The latter ploy has been utilized in many occasions throughout cricketing history but Metro failed this time as Dhaka’s batsmen scored 167/3 in 53 overs till stumps. On the other hand the first reason may backfire as Metro may concede full eight points by losing the game while depriving the meager 0.5 bonus points.
According to NCL by-laws, a team gets 1 point if they can pick 7 or 8 opponent wickets in 100 overs while the bonus point will be increased to 1.5 in case of getting 9 or 10 wickets.
After the unsual declaration Dhaka’s Rony Talukdar top-scored with 86 while Saif Hassan was the second highest scorer with 49.
Qazi Onik took two of the three wickets for Dhaka Metro.
Rangpur v Rajshahi
Rajshahi elected to field first against Rangpur at Cricket Garden in Rangpur and the day ended even-stevens with Rangpur making 230/5.
Opener Rakin Ahmed top-scored with 79 while Naeem Islam was not out on 63 as the second-best run contributor for Rangpur.
Rajshahi’s Sanjamul Islam was the pick of the bowlers with 3/41 in this tier one game.
Play was not possible in the Barisal v Khulna match at Barisal Divisional Stadium and the Chittagong v Sylhet match at Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium Academy Ground in Cox's Bazar on the first day due to inclement weather.
