Bangladesh Cricket League


The Bangladesh Cricket League is an annual first-class cricket tournament that began in Bangladesh in the 2012-13 season.

History

The Bangladesh Cricket League was inaugurated in the 2012-13 season as a four-team first-class tournament comprising the best-performing players from the eight-team National Cricket League. The aim was to raise the level of the nation's top first-class competition and so prepare players better for Test cricket.
The BCL consists of four zonal teams, each made up of players from teams representing two adjacent regions in the NCL. The teams are as follows:
Each team is owned and officially named as a franchise: Islami Bank East Zone, for example. The matches are played on a limited number of nominally neutral grounds, without home and away matches.

Winners and runners-up

Statistics by team

Seasons

2012-13

In the final, Central Zone beat North Zone by 31 runs. Sanjamul Islam took 8 for 73 in the second innings of the final, which remained the best bowling figures in the tournament until the 2016-17 season.
Matches took place between December 2012 and February 2013, at Mirpur and Bogra. The highest scorer was Marshall Ayub and the leading wicket-takers were Sohag Gazi and Mosharraf Hossain . Marshall Ayub was named player of the tournament; he scored 289 against East Zone, which remains the highest score in the tournament.

2013-14

In the final South Zone beat North Zone by 213 runs.
Matches took place in January and May 2014, the round-robin matches at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan cricket grounds 2, 3 and 4 in Savar, and the final at Mirpur. The highest scorer was Imrul Kayes and the leading wicket-taker was Taijul Islam . Taijul Islam was named player of the tournament.

2014-15

There was no final. Matches took place in April and May 2015, at Fatullah and Mirpur and Chittagong. The highest scorer was Alok Kapali and the leading wicket-taker was Abdur Razzak .
In April 2015, the BCL staged a One-Day League, which was won by East Zone.

2015-16

There was no final. Instead of a single round-robin, as in previous years, a double round-robin was held from mid-January to mid-March 2016. Matches were played at Rajshahi and Bogra, Cox's Bazar, and Mirpur and Fatullah. The highest scorer was Marshall Ayub, with 562 runs at 56.20, while Abdur Razzak took the most wickets, 38 at 32.15.

2016-17

TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints
North Zone624022
South Zone615016
East Zone613213
Central Zone612310

A double round-robin was held from late January to early March 2017. The highest scorer was Tushar Imran, with 731 runs at 91.37, while Sunzamul Islam, 25 wickets at 26.44, and Shuvagata Hom, 25 at 26.92, took the most wickets. Sunzamul Islam took 9 for 80, a competition record, in the second innings against Central Zone at Chittagong.

2017-18

TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints
South Zone615065
North Zone623162
East Zone605152
Central Zone605151

The first three rounds were played in January 2018, and the last three in April, split by the 2017-18 season of the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League. The highest scorer was Liton Das, with 779 runs at 97.37, while Abdur Razzak was the leading wicket-taker with 43 wickets at 25.00. Both totals were new records for the competition.

2018-19

TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints
South Zone623131.88
East Zone615029.14
Central Zone613223.37
North Zone605118.61

The tournament was played in November and December 2018. The highest scorer was Anamul Haque, with 658 runs at 65.80, while Abdur Razzak was once again the leading wicket-taker with 34 wickets at 24.88.

2019-20

TeamPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints
East Zone320123.47
South Zone312019.89
Central Zone311111.50
North Zone30126.22

In the final, South Zone beat East Zone by 105 runs.
The tournament was played from late January to late February 2020. The highest scorer was again Anamul Haque, with 501 runs, while Abdur Razzak was once again the leading wicket-taker with 22 wickets.