South Zone's Shafiul takes five-for

Bowlers dominated the opening day of the eighth edition of the franchise-based Bangladesh Cricket League Friday as left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and right-arm seamer Shafiul Islam bagged five-fors for East Zone and South Zone respectively.

Invited to take first guard at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong, South Zone posted 262 losing all of their wickets in 67.4 overs, No 3 batsman Fazle Mahmud scoring the highest 125 off 164 balls, featuring 17 fours and three sixes.

North Zone’s Sumon Khan notched three wickets, while right-arm pacers Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain and Ariful Haque took two each.

In reply, North Zone were in all sorts of trouble at stumps, losing half their side in a dozen overs for just 46 runs, in the face of some devastating bowling by Shafiul.

Shafiul finished with figure of 5/30 in half a dozen overs, including a maiden, and will look to initiate further inroads on day two.

8TH BCL, RD 1, DAY 1

NORTH ZONE 46/5 in 12 overs (Rony 26*, Shafiul 5/30) trail SOUTH ZONE 262 in 67.4 overs (Fazle 125, Sumon 3/67) by 216 runs