City could not stop Biman

Bangladesh Biman secured full points against City Club as they won by 13 runs in a close match held in BNS today. Good all round performances from the Pakistanis (Shahed Mahmud of Biman and Hasan Raja from City Club) saw the match in an exciting finish. Mahmud, the right-arm leggie and a very familiar face in BNS, was rightly awarded the man-of-the-match for his contributions in both departments.

Faruk Ahmed won the toss and didn't hesitate to bat first. Though Javed Omar Belim (Not in the best of his form) and Aftab Ahmed fell cheaply within 13 overs, skipper himself and Aminul Islam batted patiently in the following wicket to take the tally to 80. Faruk Ahmed fell prey to Jamal Ahmed's off spin guile for 42 that had 6 fours in it. Aminul Islam followed him adding only 8 runs on the board, which put Biman in a precarious position.

However, Hasanuzzaman and Khaled Mahmud put together an 84-run stand and slowly the gloom in Biman camp began to dissipate. Hasanuzzaman top scored 45 before Hasan Raja did away with him. Khaled Mahmud scored a dazzling 37. But it would have been impossible for Biman to throw a good challenge had Shahed Mahmud not played his quick fire 37 off 22 balls in the next wicket. The diminutive all rounder slammed 2 huge sixes and 3 boundaries on his way, which finally placed the club to a respectable 231 for 8 after 50 overs - though not a very comfortable yet a fighting total at BNS.

City Club recovered from the early loss of Shahriar Hossain when their skipper Azam Iqbal put 50 runs in the second wicket with Mohammed Salim and 36 in the next wicket with Hasan Raja, the prodigious batsman from Pakistan. Azam (45) was cut off by Shahed Mahmud in the 28th over and with his dismissal all hopes were laid on Hasan Raja.

Hasan was well into the mark as he was chipping in with singles and twos while his partners Tushar Imran (18) and Halim Shah (28) were providing good assistance from the next two partnerships. But a very unfortunate run out of Halim Shah and a rapid tail collapse hampered City's proceedings.

At 195 they lost Hasan Raja, who tried to play Razzak down the wicket only to miss it. Sajjad Kadir had ample time left to clip the bails off before Hasan could make any effort. Hasan made 55 off 79 deliveries with a solitary boundary in his innings and with his departure City's hopes and chances dropped. Only Tareq Aziz gave the crowd some moments of excitement before he was put away from a direct hit made by Hasanuzzaman in the final over and with that City finished their innings with 218 for 8.

Shahed Mahmud, though a bit expensive in his spells, captured 2 vital wickets giving away 53 runs. Anisur Rahman and Abdur Razzak shared 2 wickets each too.