Bangladesh: Acme close in on title (18 April 1998)

April 18, 1998

Acme close in on title

Sports Reporter

Favourites Acme Laboratories are closing in on the fourth Office cricket league title at the close of first day's play against Partex Group at the Dhaka Stadium yesterday.

Acme, chasing a paltry Partex total of 161 in 80 overs, were comfortably placed at 46 for one in 13.2 overs when rain forced the umpires to call off the match for the day, the first of the two-day final, 25 minutes before the scheduled close of play.

When the match resumes today, they will need another 116 runs in the remaining 66.4 overs for victory with nine wickets still in hand.

National right-arm seamer Hasibul Hossain took four wickets as Partex, sent into bat, caved in for a meager 161 in 62.2 overs.

But it was medium pacer Saiful Islam who made the early inroads dismissing opener Zahid Razzak in the very first over of the day with Partex yet to open their account. Opener Javed Omar and experienced one-down Selim Shahed however laid a good foundation for the team putting on 95 runs for the second wicket.

The partnership came to an end in the 37th over when Javed, the right-handed national opener who scored the lone half-century of the day, was castled by off-spinner Naimur Rahman. In his 111-ball 53, Javed hammered nine boundaries.

Selim Shahed then departed in the 42nd over when he became the first victim of Hasibul after scoring a sedate 39 off 118 balls which included four fours while middle-order Sanwar, who scored 33 off 59 balls, was the other notable run-getter for Partex, who lost their last seven wickets in 20 overs with the addition of only 58 runs to the total.

Hasibul, who ripped through the Partex middle-order, finished with four for 52 but Saiful returned most economical conceding only 14 runs for two wickets in his share of ten overs which yielded four maidens.

In reply, Acme suffered an early setback when national opener Shahriar Hossain (2) was trapped leg before by right-arm pacer Zakir Hasan in the very first over.

However, Harun and Khaled Masood played sensibly and took the total to 46 without further damage before rain interrupted the proceedings.

Source:: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)