Victoria stayed atop the table with their seventh win in a row when the defending champions beat Uttara Sporting Club by six wickets. However, Abahani's slim title hopes were dented after they crashed to a 22-run defeat to Brothers Union.

Mohammedan, still struggling in mid-table, returned to winning ways when they handed Young Pegasus a 54-run defeat.

Victoria moved to 14 points while Abahani were stuck on their previous collection of 10, still two points more than Mohammedan and Brothers after eight rounds.

ABAHANI-BROTHERS
Abahani missed their in-form captain Naimur Rahman in the day's most-talked about match as they were all out for 197 while chasing Brothers' 219 at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Naimur, the leading performer for the popular Dhanmondi outfit with both bat and ball, opted out of the game due to a knee injury and even Kumara Dharmasena's quickfire half-century was not enough to inspire Abahani who lost their last five wickets in the space of 39 runs.

Sri Lankan international Dharmasena made 54 off 62 balls with six fours and a six, stand-in captain Neeyamur Rashid (24 off 36 balls) and Shamimul Haque (29 off 34 balls) kept the side's hopes alive but two run outs in the 45th and 46th over put Brothers back on top.

Earlier, Javed Omar's second successive half-century in the league and skipper Halim Shah's patient 55 (94 balls) enabled the Gopibagh side put on a decent total after electing to bat.

Man-of-the-match Javed, who struck three fours, top-scored 60 from 75 balls before being run out.

VICTORIA-UTTARA
A captain's knock of 72 not out by Khaled Mashud throttled Victoria to 204-4 in reply to Uttara's 200-6 with more than five overs to spare at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium.

Coming in to bat at number five, the national wicketkeeper struck eight fours and a six in his 75-ball essay after Victoria lost early wickets. Mashud, adjudged man-of-the-match, shared 54 runs with Pakistani batsman Fahadullah (30) and a further 78 for the unbroken fifth wicket with Mohammad Salim (22 not out).

Uttara, who have now lost seven of their eight matches, were put into bat first and in-form opener Golam Rahman made 60 of 101 balls. Asadullah Khan, however, was more impressive hitting a 46-ball 48 featuring half a dozen boundaries.

MOHAMMEDAN-PEGASUS
Solid top-order batting saw Mohammedan put an end to their four-match losing streak. After being put into bat in a 48-overs-a-side match at the Fatullah Stadium due to fog, Mohammedan got off to a slow start as Nafees Iqbal (21 off 42 balls) and Shahriar Hossain (20 off 51 balls) put on 38 runs in 12 overs.

One-down Parvez Ahmed also settled for a sedate 48 (78 balls) as Mohammedan scored just 89-2 halfway through their innings. However, the experience of captain Habibul Bashar and ace Kenyan batsman Steve Tikolo helped them cross the 200-mark.

Bashar, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, hit four fours and one six to score 59 off 69 balls while Tikolo's explosive 33-ball 47 was studded with three fours and three sixes.

The target proved far beyond the reach of bottom-table Pegasus who managed 175-9 in the allotted 48 overs.