Dhaka Division stay on top with win

A collective bowling effort and two run-outs helped Dhaka Division sneak a 46-run victory against Dhaka Metropolis to lead the table. Set a target of 190, Dhaka Metropolis failed to get substantial stands after Shahadat Hossain and Mohammad Harif shared four of the top five wickets. Only Mehrab Hossain resisted with an unbeaten 39 and they were dismissed for 143, with 20 wickets falling on the last day.

When Dhaka Division were put in to bat, Abdul Mazid's 142 and a useful contribution of 79 runs from No. 8 Sharif took them to 398 even though Dhaka Metropolis used 10 bowlers. But they made up for it with their batting, taking a three-run lead when Saikat Ali scored 97 followed by a 173 from Marshall Ayub. Dhaka Division could score only 192 on the last day but their bowlers did their job well to collect 23 points.

A last-wicket stand of 165 between Muktar Ali (96) and Delwar Hossain (82) helped Rajshahi Division double their score and snatch the first-innings lead in a draw against Khulna Division. In reply to Khulna's 274 on the back of lower-order fifties from Mithun Ali (61), Nizamuddin (83) and Nahidul Islam (58) even though they were 71 for 5, Rajshahi were reeling at 162 for 9, still 112 behind. But Muktar and Delwar registered their highest first-class scores to put up 327. Khulna got 32 overs to bat on the last day to score 113 for 3 in the second innings but they had conceded the seven points to Rajshahi by then.

Fifties from Suhrawadi Shuvo (54) and Kalyanashish Basu (65*), and a five-for from Mahmudul Hasan gave Rangpur Division five points for their first-innings lead in a draw against Chittagong Division. Choosing to bat, Rangpur were in trouble with the score on 58 for 4. Shuvo's 10th first-class fifty took them past 100. An unbeaten fifty from Basu later helped them put on a respectable 249 as Mehedi Hasan and Mohammad Younus picked four wickets each.

Chittagong replied with an opening stand of 89 with Mahbubul Karim scoring 63 and Nafees Iqbal contributing with 41. But they lost three wickets at the score of 129 and struggled to put up strong partnerships thereafter as Shuvo took three wickets and Mahmudul's 5 for 38 restricted Chittagong to 189 for a crucial lead of 60 runs. Rangpur made the most of the last day with a fifty from Saymon Ahmed (84) and an unbeaten hundred from Tariq Ahmed to take five points against Chittagong's three.

A second-innings collapse from Barisal Division meant Sylhet Division were left chasing 56 for victory, and they got there in 11 overs, with Sayem Alam hitting 48 not out. That was higher than the top individual score in Barisal's second innings, in which they were bowled out for 130 with the Sylhet bowlers sharing the wickets around.

Their slide came after the match was rather evenly posed: in the first innings, Barisal had got to 224, built around a half-century from Salman Hossain. In reply, Sylhet managed a 75-run lead - their total was a team effort, with no batsmen getting to a fifty but the team still nudging the 300-run mark. With Barisal's second-innings failure, it turned out that the team would not need a half-century at all in the match to pull of the win.