Nasir Hossain 99 propels North Zone

Nasir Hossain helped North Zone recover from a precarious position after South Zone's Robiul Islam took three top-order wickets. At stumps at the BKSP-3 ground, North Zone scored 331 for 8, coming out strong from a middle-order collapse in the second session.

Robiul removed Junaid Siddique in his second over, and later took the wickets of Naeem Islam and Farhad Hossain - who was fined 10% of his match fee after play, for showing dissent after the umpire ruled him caught behind. North Zone recovered from the early loss with Naeem and Farhad adding 78 runs for the second wicket. But they slipped from 120 for 2 to 168 for 6 during the second session, only for Nasir and Farhad Reza to rescue them with a counterattacking partnership.

They added 141 runs for the seventh wicket in just 22.1 overs, with Nasir top-scoring with 99 runs off 93 balls. Nasir was severe against the spinners, particularly Abdur Razzak off whom he smashed 18 runs in the 67th over.

He was run-out while trying to complete the single to get to his fifth first-class hundred in the 83rd over, but Farhad was unbeaten on 76 runs off 88 balls, with the help of eleven fours and two sixes.

Apart from Robiul's three wickets, Razzak took two and Sohag Gazi scalped one.

In the nearby BKSP-4 ground, East Zone trudged to 301 for 9 against defending champions Central Zone. The wicketkeeper Litton Das held the innings together with a neat 79, but Mahmudullah pegged them back with four wickets.

He picked up the opposite number Tamim Iqbal in the 22nd over to spoil East Zone's bright start. Wickets then fell regularly as Mahmudullah went on to dismiss Mominul Haque for 32, Zubair Ahmed for 33 and Mashrafe Mortaza for a duck.

East Zone's Nazimuddin scored 57 but it was Liton who batted longer, making 79 off 112 balls with 12 fours. He shared a 58-run stand with Alok Kapali for the fifth wicket and another 77 for the sixth wicket with Jubair Ahmed.

Shahadat Hossain and Marshall Ayub took two wickets each for Central Zone.