Rank bad urnpl ring ruined yewte May . play off m alch between Brother* Union and Bangladesh Biman and left the 1990-91 Havana Premier Division crl cket league championship

Blman chasing Brothers Union's 214 for eight wickets tn 43 overs. refused to carry on with the proceedings when they were reduced to 108 for seven in 24.5 over* following the dismissal of left-handed all-rounder Enamul Haq Mont who was unjustly given out by umpire Wajed All Khan Ponir despite clearly appearing to have made good his ground while going for a run. The de ciaion. coming in the wake of a few other previous con trover sial rulings by the diminutive man tn the white coaL forced the exasperated Biman officials to call back their men and refuse to take any further part in the proceedings

What happened yesterday at the Dhaka Stadium can by no definition of the word be called cricket. Incompetent umpiring, unsporting attitudes on the part of the officials on either side and the abject fail ure of the Bangladesh Cricket Control Board (BCCB) officials ail combined to keep the crucial match being taken to Its logical conclusion and the issue of thi* year's league honours has been left unresolved until the BCCB league committee, whose job it is to run the competition, meets later today to rule on the fate of the game.

Brothers Union won the toss and elected to bat. their batsmen justifying skipper Atahar Alt Khan s decision b) making a handsome 2 14 for the to** of eight •* ta i' wf.cn. at the end of the 43rd over, umpire Wajed All Khan Ponir made the first of his series of blunders Although the match was supposed to be a 46 overs either way affair, going by the

clock Ponir decided to come off for lunch at exactly 12.30 pm. with two overs still to be bowled by Btman. This angered the Brothers camp no end and as the umpires and the teams returned to the pavilion Brothers officials and fans aired thejr displeasure tn no incer-tain terms.

Brothers' good showing with the bat was facilitated by a fine knock of 70 by opener Za hed Razzaq Masoom who chose the right occasion to make up for a rather indifferent season. His 119- ball innings included eight boundaries and laid the foundation for a good Borthers total.

Skipper Atahar All did his bit by scoring a quick 42 off 45 balls with the help of two fours

while Farooq made 24. Femndo 14. Akram Khan 15 not out. and Arup Bhattacharya 12 before being run out. There were 14 extras.

Left- arm spinner Enamul Haq Moni and off-spinner Aminul Islam Moni, who both came in for a bit of stick. Cked up two wickets each 58 and 47 runs respectively. off their 16 overs. Duhi. Rafiq and Shanu got one wicket each.

The Biman reply started tn the most disastrous fashion and their misery was aggravated by at least two totally preposterous decisions by umpire Ponir. His colleague on the day. Manzur Milky, also gave the Biman camp much to resent by giving opener Tare-quzaman Munir leg before, the first of three lbw decisions out of Biman's first four wickets. While Munir protested that he had played the ball with his bat before ft grazed his pads, the dismissal of hfs fellow opener Jahangir Alam appeared cruel to all and sundry.

The young chap from Narayanganj. who has been in terrific nick this season becoming the only batsman to rattle up three centuries, was ruled leg before by Pontr off Brothers' left-arm paccman Golam Nowsher Prince. Jahangir. then on four, had gone full stretch forward to Prince who was bowling, round the wickets. Reduced to two for ten. Biman never quite managed to take off.

As if things were not bad enough. former skipper Ahmed Iqbal Bachchu. who has featured in several match-winning stands for his team this season, was adjudged lbw to Prince by the same umpire for

nought Hirer for ten. Another three runs later Biman were plunged into deeper walers when Sumon was given caughi behind off Fernando for three to make the score four for 13.

Skipper Shahnawaz Shanu and young paceman Pty a I tk ft along to 57 when Shanu was bowled by medium-pacer Sunt for 21. Piyal fell to the veteran Jahangir Shah Badshah for a Sllant 16 to make it six down

64

At this point Aminul Islam Bulbul and Enamul Haq Moni got together in a last-ditch bid to stave off disaster. Batting with courage, the pair took the score along to 108 when disaster struck once again and Moni was given run out for 26. Bl-man had had enough and would take no more of it. They decided to come off the field, come what may.

Brothers Union stayed on the ground for some time before the umpires called it a day.

Prince and Fernando had taken two wickets each while Suru and Badshah got one apiece.

Both Biman and Borthers Union had finished the tentcam league proper with 16 points each from their respective nine encounters.

While Biman have won the championship in the past. Brothers Union went into the match in search of their maiden league title. It's indeed a pity that despite having put up the better showing on the day their achievement was clouded by the Incompetent supervision of the umpires.

For the record, Biman had beaten Brothers in a tail-scoring tie when the two met in their league match.