South Zone retain BCL title after drawn game

South Zone retained the Bangladesh Cricket League title after a draw with second-placed East Zone in Chittagong. South Zone finished on 44 points, four ahead of their opponents, with one win and two draws.

After they were put in, South Zone were bowled out for 385 in 109.2 overs. The highest contributions came from Shahriar Nafees and Mohammad Mithun who missed out on centuries by four and five runs respectively. Seamer Abul Hasan and left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam took three wickets each.

In reply, East Zone were kept to 247 in 83.3 overs, Sohag Gazi picking up 4 for 62 and Al-Amin Hossain claiming 3 for 45. South Zone took a lead of 138 runs, gaining seven first-innings points as opposed to East Zone's five which effectively sealed the BCL title.

Anamul Haque (70) began well in the second innings but when he fell as the fourth wicket in the 35th over, Soumya Sarkar and Mosaddek Hossain batted East Zone out and safeguarded their first-innings advantage.The pair scored centuries with Sarkar getting to his maiden first-class ton while Mosaddek's 119 earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.

East Zone were set an improbable target of 543 on the final day and the match petered out to a tame draw.

Central Zone beat North Zone by 80 runs in a low-scoring game at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

Central Zone had taken a two-run lead courtesy Mahmudullah's 113 after they chose to bat. Their total of 289 wasn't threatening, but Shuvagata Hom took 5 for 78 to keep North Zone to 287.

Offspinner Mahmudul Hasan then took 4 for 53 to help restrict Central Zone to 200 runs in 83.1 overs, which meant North Zone needed 203 to secure their first win of the tournament.

Hom was again among the wickets, taking 4 for 35. Seamer Mohammad Shahid and left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain picked up three wickets as well and North Zone were bowled out for 122 runs in 40.4 overs on the final day.