Nayeem's 8 destroys Central

Nayeem Hasan has already made headlines at the highest level of the game by becoming the youngest player to take a Test five-for on debut against West Indies in the recently concluded home series and the lanky off-spinner continued to impress as his career-best bowling spun East Zone to a mammoth 321-run victory against Central Zone on the third day of the final-round Bangladesh Cricket League match yesterday.

The 18-year old spinner caught the Central batsmen in a spin web with outstanding figures of 20-9-47-8 after captain Mominul Haque and Yasir Ali hit hundreds in the second innings to set an improbable 456-run winning target for Central.

East finished with 29.14 points to keep their title hopes alive but South Zone ended the third day against North Zone in Chattogram with high hopes of spoiling East's party on today's final day. North were still trailing by 62 runs with five wickets intact after making 186 for five in their second innings at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. A victory and the bonus points will give South enough points to overtake East's tally as they started the match with 20.63 points.

In Sylhet, after East resumed the day on two without loss and Mominul and Yasir took charge after openers Rony Talukdar and Imrul Kayes were dismissed early. Mominul's 106-ball 100 and Yasir's unbeaten 109-ball 101 helped East to declare their second innings on 254 for three, setting Central a monumental challenge to save the match.

It was then the story of the Central batsmen's meek surrender to Nayeem, though few of their batsmen like Saif Hasan and Nazmul Hossain got starts. Nayeem surpassed his previous best figures of eight for 106 for Chittagong Division against Dhaka Division in the National Cricket League this October and his figures also ensured that he now holds the records for best bowling figures by an off-spinner in the country's first-class cricket, outshining Jamal Babu's eight for 67.

In Chattogram, Anamul Haque failed to make a double-hundred as he was dismissed for 180 while Al-Amin returned to bat after retiring hurt on the second day and scored 128. Their efforts and a late surge from Abdur Razzak -- who hit a 22-ball 35 -- helped South add 134 more runs to their overnight score of 407 for five.

North were still 61 runs away from avoiding an innings defeat as they scored 186 for five in their second essay.  The last recognised batsmen in Ziaur Rahman and Dhiman Ghosh were at the crease, and they will have to do something special today to deny South's second successive title.

SCORES IN BRIEF 

EAST ZONE V CENTRAL ZONE
EAST ZONE: First innings 425 all out and Second innings 254 for 3dec in 43 overs (Rony 24, Mominul 100, Yasir 101 not out; Taskin 1-37, Shahadat 1-19, Mosharraf 1-89)
CENTRAL ZONE: 224 all out and 134 all out in 42.2 overs (Saif 31, Nazmul 36; Nayeem 8-47, Jayed 2-8)
Result: East Zone won by 321 runs
Player-of-the-match: Nayeem Hasan
NORTH ZONE V SOUTH ZONE
NORTH ZONE: First innings 293 and Second innings 186 for 5 in 58 overs (Junaid 77, Naeem 67; Shafiul 1-31, Monir 1-26, Mahedi 1-71, Razzak 1-45, Nahidul 1-8)
SOUTH ZONE: First innings 541 all out in 125.3 overs (Anamul 180, Al-Amin 128, Mahedi 84, Monir 33, Razzak 35 not out; Ebadat 2-88, Sunzamul 6-158, Saqlain 1-126, Ariful 1-41)