The opening day of the fourth round of the National Cricket League (NCL) 2024-25 witnessed two centuries and a fifer across four different venues in the country today.

At the Cox's Bazar Academy Ground, skipper Amite Hasan struck an unbeaten 109 off 228 balls – his eighth first-class ton – while opener Pinak Ghosh (99 off 218) missed out on a century by just one run as league leaders Sylhet Division scored 244-3 at stumps against Khulna Division.

All three Sylhet wickets were taken by Khulna off-spinner Mahedi Hasan, who also broke a 168-run third-wicket stand between Amite and Pinak when he removed the latter.

The fixture, however, had made headlines the previous day as it saw national team pacer Ebadot Hossain, playing for Sylhet, return to competitive cricket after a gap of 16 months following a long layoff due to an ACL injury.  

At the other Cox's Bazar venue, pacer Enamul Hoque Ashiq and left-arm spinner Ashraful Hasan took three wickets each to help Chattogram Division reduce Barishal Division to 236-7 at stumps. For Barishal, Tasamul Haque made a team-high 53 while Moin Khan remained not out on 43.

At the Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi, despite Ariful Haque's ninth first-class ton – an unbeaten 103 off 161 balls – Rangpur Division were bundled out for 189 runs in their first innings after being asked to bat first by Rajshahi Division.

Rajshahi all-rounder Sabbir Hossain was the chief wrecker of the Rangpur innings, claiming 6-47 – his maiden first-class fifer. Rajshahi, in reply, reached 39-1 at stumps, still trailing by 150 runs.

Meanwhile, at the Sylhet Academy Ground, Shamsur Rahman made 86 off 209 balls to help Dhaka Metro finish the first day at 233-6 against Dhaka Division.