Old DOHS as expected retained the coveted Premier Cricket League title with a five-run vic-

tory over Bangladesh Biman in their penultimate Super-Six match at BKSP yesterday.

But the manner in which the victory was achieved spoiled the title-triumph of Akram Khan’smen for a second successive year after Biman alleged that they were robbed of a certain win by the umpires, who let loose a comedy of errors during the Biman chase.

Riding on a fluent 109 b}' national opener Javed Omar Belim, Biman were well placed to overtake DOHS' 230 as they entered the final 10 overs needing only 30 runs for victory and with five wicketsstanding.

But three questionable leg-before decisions by umpires Jahangir Alam and Mahfuzur Rahman saw Biman bowled out for 225 in 46.2 overs.

Discarded national all-rounder Mushfiqur Rahman looked menacing on 24 when he became the first victim of what Biman officials later claimed 'the first ofa series of biased rulings from umpires'. Wicket-keeper-batsman Sajjad Kadir (4) was the next victim of a surprisingly quickdemise of Biman.

The sparse audience at the BKSP smelled something dirty no sooner Biman started their chase, and it was nakedly exposed when umpire Jahangir ruled Shahriar Hossain out caught at short cover though it was clearly seen from the distance that Kenyan Steve Tikolo had palmed it off the bounce.

When the match entered its find! act officials of Biman were

seen busy shouting at their batsmen in the middle: "Don't let the ball hit your pad."

After the match furious Biman players and officials were seen involved in a mock celebration for DOHS' title triumph. The winners however were not in a festive mood despite yet another successful year that saw them thrash Mohammedan Sporting Cub by 121 nins in the previous match at the same venue.

DOHS captain Akram Khan however ruled out any nepotism by the men in uniform saying that it was not uncommon to see one or two wrong decisions in a match.

"It is not unusual to see one or two bad decisions in a match. 1 don’t see anything wrong in it. Actually it is almost a habit for many to smell a rat when someone achieved anything in the country," said the former national skipper.

But Akram's statement belies the

reality with whispering of favouritism on a particular team growing louder after Wednesday's match.

It can be mentioned that last year teams also complained against umpires of favouring DOHS. The situation was at its worst in the last league match against Brothers Union when an umpire called a no-ball after the last DOHS batsman was clean bowled.

"If it is the standard of umpiring nobody would show their interest to make a good team. Everybody should understand that we are a lest playing nation and t his kind of attitude will take us nowhere," said Biman cricket team manager Ziaur Rashid Rupom after the match.

An interesting episode took place duringthe match. A number of BKSP students were watching the proceed -ings during the Biman chase when a former national cricketer ran

Another thorny

FROM PAGE 12

towards them and said: "Boys, please don't see the match otherwise you will lose your interest if you watch this kind of farce in the nameofcricket."

And as it has always been the case match referee Belayer Hossain found nothing wrong in the match.

"There was no untoward incident and it finished peacefully. Besides, Biman didn't lodge any protest/’ said Belayer over phone to The Daily Star Sport last night.

SCORES IN BRIEF

DOHS: 230-8 in 50 overs (Golam Rahman 40, Nazimuddin 20, Manjaru! 11, Tikolo 55, Akram 69 notout.Shahadat 13 notour, extras 10; Sharif 2-44, Musharraf 3-42, Jamal 2-35)

Bl MAN: 225 all out in 46.2 overs (Javed 109, .Sanwar 41, Mushfiqur 24, extras 12; Shahadat 2-24, Razzak 3-34)

Result: DOI IS won by five runs