North Zone crowned BCL champions
BCB North Zone edged past BCB South Zone by three runs in the final of the 50-over tournament Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Sunday, reports news agency UNB.
North Zone posted 244-8 batting first, with Fazle Rabbi top-scoring with 65. Former Under-19 team captain Akbar Ali, former Bangladesh Twenty20 skipper Mahmudullah and all-rounder Shamim Hossain also chipped in with 44, 39 and 37 respectively.
For South Zone, pacer Shoriful Islam, who has been left out of the Bangladesh squad for the forthcoming One-Day International (ODI) series against India, claimed three wickets while their skipper Mehidy Hasan took two wickets.
In reply, despite half-centuries from Nasir Hossain (61) and Anamul Haque (59), South Zone couldn’t get over the line, finishing at 241-9 at the end of their allotted overs.
Slow left-arm spinner Rakibul Hasan bagged four wickets for North Zone.
Along with the finalists, BCB Central Zone and Islami Bank East Zone also participated in this tournament.
Mohammad Naim of BCB South Zone ended the league as the top-scorer. He scored 210 runs, which included a century. Mahmud is right behind him with 192 runs. Nasir, Mahmudullah, and Naeem Islam occupy the next three spots with 163, 152, and 132 runs respectively.
Mehidy was the highest wicket-taker with 10 scalps. Mohammad Saifuddin took nine wickets, Mahedi Hasan, Shoriful Islam and Rakibul took eight, seven and six wickets respectively.