A total of 23 wickets fell on the opening day of the National Cricket League Tier 2 game between Khulna Division and Dhaka Metropolis at the BKSP-3 ground in Savar on Monday.

The 21st edition of the National Cricket League (NCL) is set to begin from October 10 and, at least inferring from the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) stated plan regarding the first-class tournament so far, it can be expected that this edition will see the start of a more intense brand of cricket.

The first round of beep tests for Bangladesh domestic players yielded positive results at the indoor stadium in Mirpur yesterday. Although most players passed the beep test, there were some notable failures. Batsman Mohammad Ashraful, all-rounder Nasir Hossain, left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, Elias Sunny and Arafat Sunny fell short of the required score of 11.

The recent fuss in the country’s cricket fraternity seems to be over the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s newly-set requirements for the beep test that must be met in order to play in the National Cricket League (NCL), scheduled to begin next month.

The first round of the 20th National Cricket League may have been dominated by the batsmen, but it was the bowlers who made headlines on the first day of the second round of the first-class completion being played across four venues yesterday.

Rangpur Division all-rounder Nasir Hossain strikes a double hundred after he continued his innings of 101 not out from yesterday.

Dhaka Metro have been demoted to Tier Two, while Nasir Hossain's Rangpur were promoted to Tier One at the end of the National Cricket League (NCL), one of the two four-day domestic competitions in Bangladesh, yesterday.

Mashrafe Mortaza says he will play Khulna Division in their next first-class match, against Rangpur in the National Cricket League.

The BCB's anti-corruption unit has cleared the 2014-15 National Cricket League match between Rangpur Division and Dhaka Metropolis of match-fixing allegations.

For Al-Amin Hossain and Sohag Gazi, being called up to the conditioning camp of 27 players is a huge relief.