ACS Oveseas First-Class Annual 2013

Bangladesh in 2012/13 Bangladesh continued to be hampered by a lack of Test cricket, playing only two two-Test rubbers in 2012/13, against West Indies at home and Sri Lanka away. The outcome, three draws and a defeat, left Bangladesh firmly in last place among the nine Test teams ranked by the ICC. But the defeats, although convincing, were no longer the utter routs of former years, and some comfort could be taken from the fact that the national record Test score was twice raised, to 556 against West Indies and 638 against Sri Lanka. The 2012/13 National Cricket League was played as a straight round-robin league, with no final. Batting and bowling points were introduced, in addition to first-innings points in drawn matches. Khulna topped the table, winning six of its seven matches and losing only to Dhaka Division, the eventual runners-up. In addition to the National Cricket League, Bangladesh introduced a new first-class tournament between four zonal sides: Central – Dhaka Division and Dhaka Metropolis; East – Chittagong and Sylhet; North – Rajshahi and Rangpur; South – Barisal and Khulna. This gave the best players more opportunity to play against each other, with a view to developing a more competitive Test team. The new competition, the Bangladesh Cricket League, culminated in a five-day final between the two top sides, Central and North. Central finally triumphed in a close-fought match. In an interesting move, the Bangladesh Cricket Board, alarmed at the number of injuries to faster bowlers, restricted seamers to 15 overs a day in domestic first-class matches. This was unfortunate for Talha Jubair of Dhaka Metropolis, who took the first eight Rangpur wickets to fall but was denied the chance to go for all ten (see page 94). Over the whole season, Mosharraf Hossain of Dhaka Division was the leading wicket-taker with 59 at 20.18, while the batting aggregates were headed by Marshall Ayub of Dhaka Metropolis (1,069 at 71.26). (JCB) National Cricket League 2012/13: Final table P W L DWF DLF ND BatBP BowBP Pts RpW 6 0 3 1 3 1 Khulna Division 7 6 1 0 0 0 4 0 40 31.210 2 Dhaka Division 7 5 1 0 1 0 5 2 38 28.071 3 Dhaka Metropolis 7 3 2 2 0 0 1 3 28 32.214 4 Rajshahi Division 7 3 3 0 0 1 2 3 26 27.798 5 Sylhet Division 7 2 3 1 0 1 2 2 22 23.759 6 Chittagong Division 7 2 2 0 2 1 4 0 21 31.798 7 Rangpur Division 7 1 4 1 1 0 4 0 14 27.565 8 Barisal Division 7 0 6 0 0 1 0 0 3 19.600 Bangladesh Cricket League 2012/13: Final table P W L DWF DLF ND BatBP BowBP Pts 6 0 3 1 3 1 Central Zone 3 0 0 2 0 1 3 2 14 2 North Zone 3 1 0 0 1 1 2 1 13 3 South Zone 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 10 4 East Zone 3 0 1 0 0 2 2 1 9 FINAL: Central Zone beat North Zone by 31 runs. 69