North Zone win maiden BCL title

North Zone secured their maiden Bangladesh Cricket League title after they earned three points from the drawn game against East Zone at the in Fatullah. South Zone and Central Zone had won the BCL trophy twice each in the first four editions of the tournament. This match ended due to poor light after only 47 overs on the final day.

Earlier, North Zone, having been sent in, posted 374 in 111.3 overs. Farhad Hossain led the way with 108, and added 204 runs for the second wicket with Junaid Siddique who contributed with 84. Seamer Mohammad Saifuddin was the pick of the bowlers for East Zone, claiming 4 for 55.

Shafiul Islam's six-wicket haul then wrecked East Zone's reply and helped North Zone to a 158-run first-innings lead. North Zone then seized the advantage with Nazmul Hossain Shanto scoring an unbeaten 122, which steered the team to 295 for 8 dec. Nasir Hossain assisted Nazmul with 63 off 84 balls. Chasing an improbable 454, East Zone ended at 128 for 3 in 36 overs. Shafiul finished with a match haul of eight wickets.

A run-fest at the BKSP-3 ground in Savar pushed the South Zone-Central Zone contest into a draw.

South Zone amassed 749 runs in the first innings after Tushar Imran and Shahriar Nafees both struck double-centuries. Tushar, who hit his second double-hundred in the three first-class matches, finished with 217 off 338 balls, including 21 boundaries. Nafees' unbeaten 207 came off 298 balls with 18 fours and five sixes. Mohammad Mithun, batting at No. 3, was among the runs too, scoring 131 off 186 balls.

Mithun and Tushar put on 230 runs for the third wicket while Nafees and Tushar added 215 runs for the fourth wicket in South Zone's mammoth first-innings total. Central Zone were forced to use 11 bowlers, including wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan.

They replied with 415 all out, with Shadman Islam hitting 113 off 330 balls, including 17 fours. Taibur Rahman missed a hundred by ten runs while Saif Hassan made exactly 50. South Zone raced to 33 in two overs in their second innings and eventually walked away with three points.