DHAKA: Batsmen hit a staggering 48 sixes and 70 fours in a Bangladesh second division 50-over match in which a combined 818 runs were scored.

North Bengal Cricket Academy won by 46 runs after they racked up 432-4 and restricted Talent Hunt Cricket Academy to a relatively meagre 386-7 at City Club Ground in Dhaka on Monday.

The North Bengal players struck 27 sixes, while Talent Hunt smashed 21 over the ropes.

“This is very unusual. I have been familiar with Dhaka’s domestic cricket for many years. But I never saw anything like this,” said Syed Ali Asaf, a club cricket organiser.

Bangladesh’s domestic matches frequently throw up unusual results, and allegations of match-fixing are common.

In one notorious case in 2017, authorities banned a bowler for 10 years after he delivered a succession of wides and no-balls to concede 92 runs to deliberately lose a match in what his team called a protest against biased umpiring.

That Dhaka League Second Division game raised suspicions after a Lalmatia bowler sent down 13 wides and three no-balls in the first over — all of which raced to the boundary — costing his side 80 runs.

Lalmatia had earlier been dismissed for just 88 off 14 overs before opponents Axiom reached 92-0 off just four legal deliveries.

In October last year, suspended national captain Shakib Al Hasan said the outcome of many matches was predetermined.

Former Bangladesh Cricket Board president Saber Hossain Chowdhury, a British-educated lawyer, businessman and influential Member of Parliament, backed Shakib’s comments, claiming there was ‘deep-rooted’ corruption in the sport’s governing body.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2020