Tamim century powers Abahani to second position

Tamim Iqbal blazed to his first century of this season's Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League in Abahani Limited's nine-wicket win against Cricket Coaching School at the BKSP-3 Ground. Abahani finished the first phase of the league at second position with 14 points while CCS ended with just four points, and were second from bottom. They will now battle for survival in the relegation play-offs.

Tamim struck 11 fours and four sixes in his unbeaten 86-ball 105 and shared an unbroken 160-run second-wicket stand with Nazmul Hossain Shanto, who was not out on 53 off 70 balls. Abahani reached their revised target of 168 in 26.1 overs after rain stopped play during the chase, for an hour and 28 minutes. Opening the batting with Tamim was Yusuf Pathan who fell for 8 in the second over.

Asked to bat, CCS were earlier bowled out for 205 runs in 50 overs with Rajin Saleh top-scoring with 95 off 135 balls which included five fours and four sixes. After being reduced to 46 for 3, Rajin shared a fourth-wicket stand of 123 runs with Mohammad Saifuddin, who plodded to 50 off 102 balls. But lack of substantial partnerships thereafter, and regular wickets bowled them out. Shakib Al Hasan took 3 for 35 while Taskin Ahmed, Abul Hasan and Mosaddek Hossain picked up two wickets each.

Prime Bank Cricket Club climbed to sixth place after they comfortably beat Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club by seven wickets in Fatullah. The loss did not affect Doleshwar's position as they remained at the top.

Opting to bowl, Prime Bank's spinners didn't allow Doleshwar's batsmen to settle down for long partnerships and bowled them out for 188 in 47.4 overs. Raqibul Hasan top-scored with 44 and added 50 for the second wicket with Imtiaz Hossain, who fell for 32. They were 109 for 5 at one stage before Rony Talukdar's 36-ball 33 helped them past 150, but it was a below-par performance overall. Left-arm spinner Monir Hossain and medium-pacer Mohammad Azim picked up three wickets each. Rubel Hossain and offspinner Shuvagata Hom took two wickets each.

In reply, Prime Bank were set a revised target of 165 in 36 overs. They reached that score with 27 balls to spare, despite losing early wickets. Openers Mehedi Maruf and Shanaj Ahmed, and No. 4 Nurul Hasan fell cheaply as they slipped to 51 for 3 before Unmukt Chand and Sabbir Rahman struck unbeaten fifties to add the remaining 114 runs in their fourth-wicket stand. Left-arm spinner Rahatul Ferdous took two wickets.

Heavy rain in Mirpur pushed the match between Kalabagan Krira Chakra and Kalabagan Cricket Academy to reserve day, Tuesday, after 14.2 overs. KKC had opted to bowl and reduced KCA to 35 for 4 before rain interrupted play.