The Proteas had their noses in front after 16 wickets fell on the first day of the first test against Bangladesh in Mirpur on Monday.
Having dismissed Bangladesh for a paltry 106, South Africa found batting almost as difficult as they inched past their total, reaching 140 for six before bad light stopped play six overs before the official close.
Difficult pitches almost always provide interesting and dramatic cricket and the strip at the Shere Bangla National Stadium was no exception.
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first on what was expected to be a dry, flat pitch that would, initially anyway, be good for batting.
The opposite was the case, with both seamers and spinners receiving plenty of help throughout a day that began in humid, hazy conditions.
Dutch-Bangla Bank Bangladesh 🆚 South Africa Test Series 2024
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) October 21, 2024
Stumps | Day 01 | South Africa lead by 34 runs#BCB #Cricket #BANvSA #WTC25 #TestCricket pic.twitter.com/F753aBzdhg
South Africa’s heroes were Kagiso Rabada and Wiaan Mulder, who took six wickets between them, backed up by Keshav Maharaj who took three himself.
Mulder took the first three wickets to fall but Rabada stole the headlines with his 300th test wicket and the acclaim of taking those scalps with the fewest number of deliveries.
Kagiso Rabada joins the likes of Dale Steyn, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Allan Donald and Morne Morkel to take over 300 Test wickets for South Africa 🇿🇦🔥#BANvSA pic.twitter.com/3VZ9k496T1
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) October 21, 2024
Bangladesh’s main striker was left-arm spinner Taijul Islam who bowled quite beautifully to claim 5-49 in 15 overs – his 13th five-wicket haul in tests.
At times the veteran got vicious turn and it was no easy task to come to the wicket and play him.
South Africa bowled out Bangladesh in just 40.1 overs and Markram and Tony de Zorzi began the visitors’ reply halfway through the afternoon session.
The SA captain failed to survive the opening over from Bangladesh’s only pace bowler, Hasan Mahmud, when he played down the wrong line and was bowled.
Tristan Stubbs (23 off 27 balls, including 4x4s), as is his habit, was aggressive in his brief innings, striking his first two boundaries with reverse-sweeps.
He then drove two fours off the back foot off Taijul, but then misjudged the length of the next ball playing back to a fuller delivery that he edged to slip.
South Africa took tea on 65-2, but found batting much more difficult in the final session as Taijul in particular got some extravagant turn on a pitch that also had uneven bounce.
Taijul claimed four more wickets during the session, beginning with David Bedingham, caught at slip, a gritty De Zorzi (30 in 72 balls) caught at short leg, and debutant Matthew Breetzke who departed for a duck after he left a delivery that went straight on and took out his off-stump.
At that stage, South Africa were only two runs ahead, but Kyle Verreynne (18*) and Wiaan Mulder (17*) batted sensibly to the end, selecting the right ball to hit and defending the remainder manfully.
The pair added 32 in 57 balls – valuable runs in what is likely to be a low-scoring match.
RABADA MILESTONE
Earlier, Rabada and fellow paceman Mulder bowled superbly to take five of the six wickets to fall in the morning session with Mulder claiming the first three wickets (3-22 in eight overs), Rabada the next two (2-16 in eight overs) and then, just before lunch, left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj trapped Mehidy Hasan Miraz leg before wicket.
The pitch was bowler-friendly right from the start with the excellent Mulder, in particular, swinging the ball through the air in hazy, humid conditions and gaining movement off the seam as well.
Mulder struck with the fourth ball of his first over as opener Shadman Islam drove at a full, wide delivery, edging it straight to Markram at slip.
In his next over, Mulder should have had Mominal Haq leg before but the ball-tracking technology was not working and the umpire’s initial not-out decision had to be adhered to.
Haque then clipped the next ball for four but succumbed immediately afterwards, edging through to wicketkeeper Verreynne.
Mulder claimed his third victim in his third over as Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto got a leading edge to an attempted turn to leg, lobbing the ball to Maharaj at wide mid-off.
Rabada then joined the party as he began his second spell as he spectacularly ripped out the off and middle stumps of Mushfiqur Rahim as he speared a delivery between his bat and pad.
That was an appropriate delivery to notch up his 300th victim.
Kagiso Rabada hits the 300 wickets mark đź’Ą
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) October 21, 2024
đź“ş Stream #BANvSA on DStv: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw pic.twitter.com/kRBtIr0x82
The great paceman then got extra bounce and seam movement to induce a thick edge from Litton Das that Tristan Stubbs – flinging himself high to his left at gully – brilliantly held onto.
Maharaj, who extracted prodigious turn at times, then completed a sensational morning for the South Africans by trapping Mehidy Hasan Miraz leg before with his “slider”.
After the break, South Africa dismissed the last four Bangladesh batters for 46 runs in 14 overs.
Dane Piedt made the first breakthrough in the afternoon when the offspinner bowled opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy for 30 with a delivery that slanted across him bowled from round the wicket.
Joy, who faced 97 balls in his innings, was Bangladesh’s rock in his team’s brief innings.
Thereafter, debutant Jaker Ali was smartly stumped by Verreynne off Maharaj, Rabada picked up his third wicket when Nayeen Hasan edged to Mulder in the slips while Maharaj bowled Taijul to wrap up the innings.
BANGLADESH: Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das (wk), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Jaker Ali, Nayeem Hasan, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud
SOUTH AFRICA: Aiden Markram (capt), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Ryan Rickelton, Matthew Breetzke, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Dane Piedt