Firdose Moonda previews South Africa’s first Test against Bangladesh at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom (1:27)
Lunch South Africa 99 for 0 (Elgar 56*, Markram 43*) v Bangladesh
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Dean Elgar scored his ninth Test fifty and South Africa reached 99 for 0 at lunch in a smooth first session at Senwes Park, as Bangladesh’s bowling attack struggled to make inroads.
Elgar was unbeaten on 56 off 93 balls at the interval, with five fours, while Aiden Markram showed little unease on his Test debut, reaching 43 not out off 69 balls, with six boundaries. The pair leapt on anything that was too full, even whipping balls off the stumps, and played with the awareness that there wasn’t much danger with such shots.
Markram also used his strong bat-swing to blast cover drives whenever the Bangladesh pace bowlers strayed outside the off stump. Elgar, who had struck 139 in a first-class match earlier this month, was equally comfortable leaving deliveries and timing the ball through the on side.
The South Africa openers must have been pleasantly surprised by Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim’s decision to bowl first on a dry pitch that hardly produced movement. At the toss, Mushfiqur’s justified the call saying he wanted to give his young pace bowlers the best conditions to bowl in.
But there was little help. Mustafizur Rahman and Shafiul Islam had to produce extraordinary deliveries to trouble the South African openers. They began with two maidens, but conceded runs in their efforts to find extra movement, pace or bounce.
There was the odd yorker, at times some extra bounce, and an inside-edge from Markram. A mix-up between the openers nearly gave Bangladesh the breakthrough but they had little success.
Mushfiqur introduced Mehidy Hasan, the specialist offspinner, as early as the sixth over but there was nothing much for him off the pitch. An encouraging sign for Bangladesh, however, was the discipline shown by Mustafizur, particularly his efforts to attack the stumps.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo