ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2017

The format of the domestic first-class season was largely unchanged from 2015/16: the eight sides in the National Cricket League were divided between upper and lower ‘tiers’ of four teams, each of which played its opponents twice; while the zonal competition that rounds off the season, the Bangladesh Cricket League, operates on a similar basis with the four zones playing each other twice. Thanks to a slightly greater accumulation of bonus points, Khulna retained the National League by a narrow margin over Dhaka Division; there was in truth little to choose between these two sides, which drew both their games against each other and conclusively demonstrated their superiority over Barisal and Dhaka Metropolis, the latter being relegated. The replacement will be Rangpur, who bounced straight back from relegation in 2015/16. The Bangladesh Cricket League, by bringing the best players together into four zonal sides, is designed to achieve a higher standard of competition and produce cricketers better equipped to deal with the rigours of international competition (and the Test team’s recent performances suggest that this strategy may indeed be working). The points system was simplified this season (for the BCL only, not the NCL) to a system based on the Ranji Trophy. North Zone, with two innings wins and two winning draws, were clearly the strongest side and finished top by a wide margin over South Zone. Across the first-class season as a whole, Tushar Imran (Khulna and South Zone) struck 1249 runs at an imposing average of 89.21; Junaid Siddique of Rajshahi and North Zone, with 1024, was the only other batman to exceed a thousand. The fast-medium bowling of Abu Jayed (Sylhet and East Zone) made him the season’s leading wicket-taker with 44. (JCB) National Cricket League 2016/17: Final tables Tier 1 P W WLF L LWF D DWF BatBP BowBP Pts 11 10 0 1 3 4 1 Khulna Division 6 2 0 0 0 2 2 10 12 58 2 Dhaka Division 6 2 0 0 0 2 2 9 9 54 3 Barisal Division 6 0 0 2 0 3 1 5 14 32 4 Dhaka Metropolis 6 0 0 2 0 3 1 1 14 28 Tier 2 P W WLF L LWF D DWF BatBP BowBP Pts 11 10 0 1 3 4 1 Rangpur Division 6 2 1 0 0 2 1 13 17 72 2 Rajshahi Division 6 1 2 0 0 1 2 5 18 65 3 Sylhet Division 6 0 0 1 2 1 2 6 17 36 4 Chittagong Division 6 0 0 2 1 2 1 9 13 33 Bangladesh Cricket League 2016/17: Final table P W WI L DWF DLF Pts 6 7 0 3 1 1 North Zone 6 0 2 0 2 2 22 2 South Zone 6 0 1 0 2 3 16 3 East Zone 6 1 0 2 2 1 13 4 Central Zone 6 1 0 3 1 1 10 52 Bangladesh in 2016/17