The second day of the third round of the National Cricket League witnessed three centuries and a five-wicket haul. With England's tour of Bangladesh going on, the domestic four-day competition may not be the main focus in the country's cricketing arena at the moment, but that does not by any means devalue the competition as it has been having a number of exciting matches.

Shahanur Rahman, a 20-year-old off-spinning allrounder was the centre of attention at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah yesterday. After Kapali's ton revived Sylhet from 99 for 3, Shahanur came in at seven and scored a cautious 102 to lead Sylhet to 444 in their first innings against Chittagong.

His contribution in the game did not end there. He came back with the ball and scalped three out of the five wickets that fell. He removedTasamul Haque, who was lookinggood for 57, and then got the main man, Mominul Haque, for just 5. Towards the end, he bowled Saeed Sarkar, the former Bangladesh under-19 player. By the end of the day, Chittagong were struggling at 115 for5.

Taibur Rahman was the hero for Dhaka against Barisal at the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox's Bazar. He scored a well-paced 147, featuring four sixes and eight fours, to lead Dhaka to a first innings score of 523. He was well supported by Nadif Chowdhury's 75 and an unbeaten 57 from Zahiduzzaman. Barisal slow left-armer Monir Hossain, to his credit, scalped a five-wicket haul.

After the exchange, Barisal remained unnerved by the high score and finished the day on 103 for 1 with Fazle Mahmud scoring 55 and Shahriar Nafees posting 50. The duo put on 94 for the second wicket.

Khulna's Nurul Hasan was the other centurion. He posted an unbeaten 103 as Khulna finished on 293. After the exchange, Dhaka Metro eased to 59 forno loss.

SCORES IN BRIEF

SYLHET: 444 all out in 139.2 overs (Kapali 137, Shahanur 102, Rajin 51; Iftekhar 3-142) v CHITTAGONG: 115 for 5 (Tasamul 57; Shahanur 3-30, Enamul Jnr 1-20)

DHAKA: 523 all out in 132 overs (Taibur 147, Majed 96, Rony 84, Nadif 75,Zahiduzzaman 57; Monir 5-152) v BARISAL: 103 for 1 (Fazle 55 not out, Nafees 40 not out; Sharif 1-20)

KHULNA: 293 all out in 104.4 overs (Nurul 103 not out, Razzak45; Sunny 3-113, Shahidul 2-23) v DHAKA METRO: 59 forno loss

RANGPUR: 234 all out in 77.4 overs (Tanveer 53, Sohrawadi 53; Forhad 3-59, Muktar 3-69, Taijul 2-31v RAJSHAHI: 159 for 6 (Junaid 48 not out; Saddam 2-27, Ari fill 2-28)