Nayeem bags 300th FC wicket as BCL four-dayer begins

Spinner Nayeem Hasan picked up his 300th first-class wicket as the 12th Bangladesh Cricket League four-dayers got underway in Sylhet on Tuesday.

Featuring for East Zone at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, off-spinner Nayeem dismissed Central Zone opener Shadman Islam (56) to reach the milestone in his 75th match.

The 26-year-old also has 48 wickets in Tests, 111 in List A cricket and 57 in T20s. He has so far represented Bangladesh in only longer-version format.

Asked to bat first, Central Zone posted 272 runs for the loss of six wickets at stumps with Abu Haider Rony and Ashikur Rahman Shibli going strong, ending the day’s proceedings unbeaten on 90 and 75 respectively.

Fast bowler Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury and Tofael Ahmed bagged two wickets each while Nayeem and Hasan Murad notched one apiece.

Meanwhile at Sylhet Academy Ground, North Zone dismissed South Zone for 314 and ended the day replying with 16 without loss.

Invited to take first guard, South Zone’s total was built on useful contributions from Iftekhar Hossain Ifti (49), captain Mohammad Mithun (53) and Rizan Hossain (47), as well as Anamul Haque Bijoy (31), Fazle Mahmud Rabbi (34) and Moin Khan (36).

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and Abdulla Al Mamun led the way for North Zone with three scalps each while Sanjamul Islam took two.