East Zone are the new Bangladesh Cricket League (BCL) champions, getting their hands on the trophy after defeating North Zone by an innings and 112 runs in the final round of matches in the tournament, which ended on Wednesday.
East Zone 352 (Mominul 117, Emon 90, Shahadat 56, Nahid 4-68, Murad 3-83) beat North Zone 108 (Rejaur 4-40, Khaled 4-40) and 132 (Khaled 7-50) by an innings and 112 runs
Khaled Ahmed was the standout performer for East Zone, as he completed an 11-wicket match haul to take East to victory in Sylhet. The 11 wickets made it a chart-topping 18 wickets for Khaled in just two games in the BCL, well ahead of second-placed Abu Hider of Central Zone, who returned 12 wickets in three games.
After East won the toss and opted to field, Rejaur Rahman Raja and Khaled returned identical figures of 4 for 40 in the first North innings to bowl them out for 108, with Abdullah Al Mamun's 26 the best individual effort for North. East's reply was led by Mominul Haque, who scored 117 in just under four hours, and Parvez Hossain Emon, whose 90 came in 200 balls in over four hours of batting. Shahadat Hossain also chipped in with a quick 56.
Behind by 244 runs, North needed a stronger batting display, but after a steady start from Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Sabbir Hossain, which took them to 43 by the eighth over, it started to go downhill. Abu Jayed picked up the first wicket, of Joy, and it was over to Khaled after that to run through the batting with returns of 7 for 50. Rejaur took his match tally to six with the wickets of Pritom Kumar and North captain Akbar Ali.
East, who had earlier beaten Central by seven wickets after drawing their opener against South Zone, finished on 20 points, double that of second-placed Central.
Central Zone 248 (Naeem 89, Ankon 66, Sumon 3-63, Nayeem 3-66) and 16 for 0 (Naim 14*) beat South Zone 214 (Moin 75, Shohidul 3-31) and 49 for 9 (Hider 4-6, Shohidul 3-7) by ten wickets
A dramatic batting collapse in their second innings cost South a chance to make a match of it against Central, who needed to chase just 16 runs in the fourth innings after South only managed 49, having conceded a 34-run first-innings lead.
Asked to bat, South put up 214, with good hands from Moin Khan (75) and Fazle Mahmud (46), as Shohidul Islam, Hider and Shuvagata Hom all got among the wickets.
Central's batting effort wasn't much better, but good enough to get them a lead, as they scored 248. Naeem Islam led the way with a 181-ball 89, while Mahidul Islam Ankon scored 66.
But there was almost no resistance from South in their second innings. Opener Prantik Nawrose Nabil batted ten balls before going off, and the procession was on. Hider picked up four, Shohidul three, and Salauddin Sakil two. Mohammad Naim then proceeded to knock off the required runs in just one over.