ESPNcricinfo staff
February 19, 2012
Barisal Burners 121 for 1 (Shehzad 60, Hodge 54*) beat Sylhet Royals 120 for 7 (Tanvir 33, Naeem 22, Shuvo 3-20) by nine wickets
Barisal Burners sealed a comprehensive win over Sylhet Royals at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. A strong bowling performance, led by left-arm spinner Suhrawadi Shuvo who took 3 for 20, helped restrict Sylhet to 120, a score Barisal chased with ease.
Sylhet, after choosing to bat, began steadily but collapsed not long after. Kamran Akmal fell for a run-a-ball 17, and that was the start of the slide. In the 12th over, Sylhet were reeling at 58 for 6, having lost Akmal with the score on 21. Farhat Hossain picked up two of those wickets, Shuvo bagged two as well and Al-Amin Hossain and Yasir Arafat took one each. Sohail Tanvir (33) and Naeem Islam (22*) staged a recovery that gave the Sylhet score some respectability. The pair added 45 and helped post 120, which was inadequate.
Barisal openers Ahmed Shehzad and Brad Hodge made a mockery of the Sylhet score, putting together a stand of 116 that sealed their opponents' fate. Shehzad smashed five sixes in his 60 before being stumped; Hodge struck as many sixes in his unbeaten 54, and saw his team through in just 13.2 overs.
Sylhet are reeling at the bottom of the table with six defeats in a row. Barisal have three wins from six games.
