DHAKA, Jan 21, 2019 (BSS)- English batsman Laurie Evans scored first ton in Bangladesh Premier League T20 this season as Rajshahi Kings registered their fourth win beating Cumilla Victorians by 38 runs in the 23rd match of the tournament held on Monday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur in the city.
Chasing a challenging winning target of 177 runs, Cumilla Victorians found the chase stiff and eventually dismissed at 138 in 18.2 overs.
The two openers, Anamul Haque and Tamim Iqbal gave Cumilla a good start contributing 37 runs for the opening stand before Kamrul Islam broke the partnership removing Tamim for 25 runs while Anamul Haque fell to Ryan ten Doeschate after making 26. Shaheed Afridi (19), Liam Dawson (17), Shamsur Rahman (15), Imrul Kayes (15) and Ziaur Rahman (12) got off to a good start but could not convert those in to big knock in the face of disciplined bowling attacks by the Rajshahi Kings bowlers.
Kamrul Islam, the wrecker-in-chief, caused the major damage as he grabbed four Cumilla’s wickets conceding 10 runs. He was well supported by Ryan ten Doeschate and Qais Ahmad who bagged two wickets each giving away 15 and 46 runs respectively.
Earlier, English batsman Laurie Evans blasted an unbeaten 62-ball off 104 runs helped Rajshahi Kings to post a challenging total of 176 for 3 from their allotted 20 overs after they were forced to bat first by Cumilla.
Rajshahi suffered early batting jolt as they lost their opener Shariar Nafees in the second overs after Mahedi Hasan made him a clean bowled. Rajshahi Kings skipper Mehedy Hasan also failed to take the responsibility as the departed from the crease after making a duck while Marshal Ayub also lasted a little and backed to the dressing room both by Liam Dawsonas deliveries.
English batsman Laurie Evans then pairing with Ryan ten Doeschate steadied the innings contributing an unbeaten 148 runs for the fourth wicket stand to take Rajshahi to a strong position.
The English allrounder Laurie Evans powered his way to Bangladesh Premier League’s first ton of the season. The right-hander allrounder started his batting carefully as his first 37 runs coming off 36 deliveries, as he scored his runs at just over a run-a-ball, however, it all ended with a raging display of power-hitting as he reached his ton in 61 deliveries.
The rest of 63 runs came from just 25 deliveries. He finished on an unbeaten 104 off 62 deliveries with the help of nine boundaries and six over boundaries along the way. Ryan ten Doeschate provided an ample support during the process as he blazed unbeaten 41-ball off 59 runs hitting two boundaries and three over boundaries to help Rajshahi to set a challenging total for Cumilla.
Liam Dawson was the most successful bowler as he claimed two Rajshahi’s wickets conceding 20 runs. Laurie Evans of Rajshahi Kings was named the player of the match for his impressive batting performance.
After the match, Mehidy Hasan the skipper of Rajshahi Kings said: “Our bowlers did well, thanks to Laurie and Tendo, they had a good partnership in the middle overs, good for us. We are losing early wickets but happy with the partnership between the two. We are a good bowling side. We came back strongly and we held on to our catches, really happy with that.”
Imrul Kayes, captain of Cumilla Victorians said: “It’s a disappointing day for us. We didn’t execute well after the power-play, especially in the death overs. We need a good start while chasing such targets but we didn’t have a great start. We didn’t click in the middle overs also but we are looking forward to the next match. Our batsmen are getting runs but we need to click as a unit.”