Islami Bank East Zone finished the second day of all important title deciding match of the Bangladesh Cricket League against Prime Bank South Zone with 159-3, replying to 385 runs at Chittagong on Monday.
In the other match at Mirpur, Walton Central Zone were 21-2 in their second innings at stumps after they achieved a slender lead of two runs against BCB North Zone in the first innings.
At Chittagong, resuming on 272-2, Prime lost their last eight wickets for just 100 runs with both overnight batsmen Mohammad Mithun and Shahriar Nafees falling short of a century.
Mithun, unbeaten on 88 overnight, fell for 95 while Shahriar could add just 18 runs to his bedtime total before being dismissed for 96.
Veteran Abdur Razzak made some onslaught with a 35-run innings off 38 balls after the middle order batsmen including Test player Soumya Sarkar failed.
Soumya was bowled by Nazmul Opu for a duck in the second ball he faced.
Opu and Abul Hasan both picked up three wickets each for Islami Bank while Ahmed Sadiqur got two wickets. Kamrul Islam and Alok Kapali grabbed one wicket apiece.
In reply, Shadman Islam and Liton Das made a solid start with a partnership of 74 before Liton was out for 38.
However, Shadman remained not out on 86 with 13 boundaries despite losing Test batsman Mominul Haque for just four runs and former Test cricketer Rajin Saleh for three.
Alok Kapali was not out on 18 with Shadman.
Sohag Gazi picked up two wickets for Prime, who will be crowned champions if the match ends in a draw.
In Dhaka, resuming on 278-8, Walton lost last two wickets for just 11 runs to be dismissed for 289 runs.
Taijul Islam of BCB North Zone picked up one of the last two wickets to return with a figure of 5-113.
In reply, North Zone lost wickets in regular intervals to stutter 99-5 at one stage before Sabbir Rahman and Forhad Hossain made a partnership of 92 runs.
Sabbir made 75 runs off just 84 balls with 11 boundaries and one six while Farhad scored 67 runs off 133 balls with the help of eight fours.
Muktar Ali scored 42 runs down the order to give BCB outfit some hopes for a lead before he was dismissed by Shuvagata Hom.
Shuvagata, who represented Bangladesh Test side, later claimed the wicket of last batsman Farhad to complete his only third five-wicket haul to finish with 5-78.
Shahidul Islam ably supported him with an impressive figure of 4-55.
Central Zone faced 12 overs in the final session when they lost Rony Talukdar for a golden duck and Roqibul Hassan for seven.
Opener Abdul Majid was not out on 10 runs with the first Innings’ centurion Mahmudullah unbeaten on four.
Islami Bank reply solid in decider
Staff Correspondent
Email mistake reveals Bank of England's EU exit project f
The Bank of England has confirmed it is researching the financial risks of the UK leaving the EU after it "inadvertently" sent details of its work to a national newspaper.
A senior official sent an email about its confidential project on the issue to an editor at the Guardian newspaper.
A spokesman for the bank described the error as "unfortunate".
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised an in/out referendum on the UK's EU membership by the end of 2017.
The Guardian reports that the email indicates a small group of senior staff are to examine the economic effects of the UK leaving the EU under the authority of Sir Jon Cunliffe, who is the deputy director for financial stability.
The email also spells out that should anyone ask about the project - codenamed Project Bookend - the taskforce should say it concerns "a broad range of European economic issues", and not make any reference to the forthcoming referendum.
'Say no more'
The email, from Sir Jon Cunliffe's private secretary to four senior executives, was written on 21 May, the Guardian reported.
James Talbot, the head of the monetary assessment and strategy division, was also involved in Project Bookend, the paper said.
The email is quoted as saying: "Jon's proposal, which he has asked me to highlight to you, is that no email is sent to James's team or more broadly around the Bank about the project.
"James can tell his team that he is working on a short-term project on European economics in International [division] which will last a couple of months. This will be in-depth work on a broad range of European economic issues. Ideally he would then say no more."
The memo goes on to propose that questions from "other parties" about "whether this was a project to look at the referendum", should be given the answer, "that there is a lot going on in Europe in the next couple of months - pointing to some of the specific European economic issues (eg: Greece) that would be of concern to the Bank".
'Not sensible'
A statement from the bank said: "Today, information related to planned confidential Bank work on the potential implications of a renegotiation and national referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union made its way into the public domain, due to an internal email sent inadvertently to an external party.
"There are a range of economic and financial issues that arise in the context of the renegotiation and national referendum. It is one of the Bank's responsibilities to assess those that relate to its objectives.
"It is not sensible to talk about this work publicly, in advance. But as with work done prior to the Scottish referendum, we will disclose the details of such work at the appropriate time.
"While it is unfortunate that this information has entered the public domain in this way, the Bank will maintain this approach."
On Friday Mr Cameron met European counterparts for the first time since his general election victory, and admitted he was "not met with a wall of love" as he began diplomatic negotiations aimed at securing changes to the UK's relationship with Brussels.
At a summit in the Latvian capital Riga he conceded that securing a deal would take "patience and tenacity" and refused to ruled out campaigning for Britain to leave the EU if his renegotiation efforts failed.
Morshed Alam, MP, Chairman of Mercantile Bank Limited
Morshed Alam, MP, Chairman of Mercantile Bank Limited, inaugurates the 101st branch of the bank at Donia in the capital on Monday. Alhaj Habibur Rahman Molla, MP, Syed Abu Hossain Babla, MP, Alhaj Akram Hussain (Humayun), Chairman of the Executive Committee of the bank, and other high officials were also present on the occasion.
Shafiqul Alam, Managing Director of Jamuna Bank Limited
Shafiqul Alam, Managing Director of Jamuna Bank Limited, receives Gold Trade Award-2014 from Maumer Mesak, Relationship Manager, Financial Institutions, Commerzbank AG for excellent partnership in trade and finance in the year 2014, at a function in Dhaka recently.
ADB okays $120m in additional loan
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $120 million loan in additional funding for a six-year government-led programme to improve the quality of primary education and ensure its expansion.
The loan will be complemented by co-financing from the European Union, the Global Partnership for Education, the United Nations Children's Fund, and the World Bank, the Manila-based lender said in a statement Sunday.
Third Primary Education Development Programme was launched in 2011.
ADB's original financing was a $320 million loan, and it agreed in 2011 to make more funds available if implementation was successful.
This was confirmed by a joint midterm review by the government of Bangladesh and its development partners completed in September 2014, which called for a greater focus on results.
The additional funds are expected to raise key performance indicators relating to student achievement, access and efficiency in Bangladesh, which has one of the largest primary school systems in the world with over 19.5 million children enrolled in about 106,000 primary schools.
The midterm review notes that the project has increased enrolment and reduced dropout rates across the country, but this trend is lower among disadvantaged groups such as children from small ethnic communities, children living in slums, and children living with disabilities. Disparities between schools and between rich and poor children still persist.
"Although the programme has helped Bangladesh make considerable progress on meeting its education targets enshrined in millennium development goals (MDG) two and three, much work remains to be done," ADB's senior social sector specialist Rudi Van Dael said.
"This additional funding will help deepen ongoing reforms, scale up successful project interventions, and complete already scaled-up activities," said the ADB official.
The ministry of primary and mass education is the executing agency of the project, to be completed by the end of June 2017.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.