Title Contenders Brothers Union ended their first phase campaign of the Premier cricket league on a winning note when the Gopibagh based outfit handed Victoria Sporting Club a crushing eightwicket defeat at the Dhaka Stadium yesterday.
With this resounding victory. Brothers, who had earlier confirmed their berth in the six-team super league, finished second behind league leaders Mohammedan Sporting Club collecting 16 points from their 11 league engagements.
In the day's match Brothers' young right-arm seamer Sajal Chowdhury and Pakistani international Aamir Hanif ripped through the opponents' top and middleorder -as Victoria,- sent into bat in the morning, were skittled out for a paltry 153.
Sajal. a product of BKSP and trained in the famous MRF pace bowling foundation. was the wrecker-in-
chief claiming three wickets for only 15 runs in his nine economic overs.
The stout speedster first removed opener Mehrab Hossain Opce (2) in the fifth over and then took the scalp of gangling Al-Shariar Rokon for 10 reducing Victoria to two for 28 tn 10.5 overs.
Aamir Hanif. the Pakistani middle-order bat and a very useful medium fast bowler, then began the demolition from where Sajal had left, leaving Victoria, who after having failed to qualify for the super league had relinquished the services of former Indian Test player Chetan Sharma and Rajinder Singh, reeling at 71 for six in 26.5 overs.
Aamir, the elder of the Hanif duo playing for Broth ers and who is very deceptive off the pitch, finished with an enviable analysis of 10-4-21-3.
Only opener Sajid Hassan, who stood firm against a ma rauding Brothers attack, scored a patient 35 off 61 balls, followed by a gritty 72 runs partnership for the seventh wicket between Abul Hasan Nahid and Ekramul Islam that gave the Victoria total some respectability.
Nahid scored a plucky 40 off 67 balls .while, Ekramul chipped in with 39.
In reply. Brothers Union, facing a simple task of scoring a little over than 3.5 runs per over for an outright win. were given a rollicking start
by their openers Shariar Hossain Bidyut and Abid Hanif.
The two. who provided the pace in the first fifteen overs shared 107 runs in only 18 4 overs before Bidyut departed for a sparkling 56 off 63 deliveries punctuated by eight hits across the rope. It was his fourth fifty in the league
Abid Hanif. who cracked five lours in his polished 67-ball stay at the crease, fell three runs short of what would have been a well-deserved half century when the stockily-built Pakistani edged a catch behind the wicket leaving Brothers comfortably poised with 119 for two.
After the fail of the two quick wickets Sanwar Hossain and Halim Shah propelled their side home with out further ado sharing the required 35 runs for the undefeated third wicket.
Victoria's new-baH Tanveer Ahmed Timeer, who conceded 11 runs in a punishing first over, returned in his second spell with some degree of venom to remove both the Brothers openers to finish with two for 37 in his eight overs.
It was Victoria's seventh defeat from their quota of 11 league matches to remain stuck to their earlier collection of eight points. Runners-up in the Damal Summer cricket last season Victoria will play in the relegation league along with five others of the 12-team elite group.