Yasir Ali, bowlers put East Zone on top of the table with big win

East Zone's seven-wicket win against Central Zone in Chattogram put them on top of the Bangladesh Cricket League's table. Yasir Ali struck a century to win the player-of-the-match award but it was their bowlers who played a big part on the win.

Batting first, Central Zone reached 280 with Mahidul Islam top-scoring with 91. Medium pacer Khaled Ahmed and offspinner Naeem Ahmed took four wickets each.

East Zone slipped to 70 for five in their reply, before Yasir and Irfan Sukkur added 151 runs for the sixth wicket. Yasir struck nine fours and four sixes in his 179-ball stay, while Irfan made 91 with 12 fours and a six. The other nine batters combined to score just 45 runs as they reached 257. Abu Hider and Nazmul Islam took three wickets each.

Naeem took another four-wicket haul while Khaled took three as Central Zone got bowled out for 125 runs in their second dig. East Zone reached their 149-run target with Amite Hasan and Shamim Hossain hitting unbeaten fifties in the fourth innings.

Moin Khan and Sumon Khan helped South Zone survive in the final hour to draw their encounter against North Zone in Sylhet.

Mahedi Hasan's four-wicket haul restricted North Zone to 219 before South Zone took a 24-run lead when they made 243. Prantik Nawrose Nabil struck 90, laced with eight fours, as he batted till the 82nd over to shepherd the innings. Yeasin Arafat took four wickets.

Abdullah Al Mamun's second first-class century got North Zone back in the game with 345 for seven declared. Mamun made an unbeaten 117 off 258 balls though he struck five fours and six sixes in his innings that spanned almost four hours. Pritom Kumar and Akbar Ali scored sixties as North Zone set South Zone a 322 target. Mahedi and Kamrul Islam took three wickets each.

South Zone collapsed to 57 for five before Nabil and Marshall Ayub bailed them out for a bit. Moin and Sumon then defended for nearly 90 minutes to ensure the draw, with two wickets in hand. Nahidul Islam's 5-29 got him the Player-of-the-Match award.