Proteas spinners blow away Tigers’ top order
THE last half an hour of yesterday’s play showed just what a tricky task Bangladesh face in trying to see out the final day, with the tourists believing that only two results are possible on day five of the first Test against the Proteas at Kingsmead.
“Either we win or we lose, I don’t think a draw is possible,” said Bangladesh’s team director Khaled Mahmud.
The tourists were in deep trouble on 11/3 at stumps on day four, with South Africa’s two spinners Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer blowing away the Tigers’ top order.
Bangladesh still need another 263 runs, but with scoring runs difficult on a wearing pitch, the Proteas are favourites to take the lead today in the two-match series.
“If we bat well and bat long enough, then we have a good chance to win this Test,” Mahmud said.
“I’ve been very happy with the attitude the boys showed in the field, they bowled very well, they came back very strongly to keep the lead to 273. At one time, it looked like (SA) were batting very comfortably, but all the bowlers did their jobs very well and we fielded brilliantly.”
SA’s batting consultant Justin Sammons said the pitch made scoring difficult, with spinners getting plenty of turn while the Bangladesh fast bowlers had the ball reverse swinging.
“The ball is gripping and it is gradually turning more,” said Sammons.
“From a seam point of view they hit good lengths and in Durbs it’s hard to up the scoring rate when they are hitting those lengths, because hitting up the ground is tough because of the pace.”
Earlier, Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo wore a proud smile as he clapped his team off the field after they had bowled SA out and left themselves an achievable target.
Within 30 minutes, Domingo’s smile was gone. In six overs, all the courageous work of the fourth day had disappeared in a furious response from the home team’s two spinners.
First Harmer had Shadman Islam beautifully caught at slip by Keegan Petersen for a duck, then Maharaj bowled Bangladesh’s first innings centurion, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, through the gate with a “slider” for
four; and a few balls later he trapped captain Mominul Haque lbw for just two.
In both instances, Maharaj roared his delight, charging away from his teammates, perhaps an illustration of his frustration at not picking up a wicket in the first innings, while Harmer stole all the limelight with four.
At various stages of the match, Bangladesh proved that the fighting spirit in their group is not just talk, but they can show it in deed, too. If SA thought they had landed a psychological blow in the first session by scoring 99 runs and losing just one wicket, then in the afternoon, they were given another reminder that they were very much mistaken.
Bangladesh, with one of their three seamers Taskin Ahmed nursing a shoulder injury, stayed in touch with the Proteas, picking up four wickets and restricting the scoring to just 52 runs in the afternoon session.
While there had been some costly dropped catches in the morning, in the afternoon their fielding was inspired, with Yasir Ali and Shadman producing a pair of sublime catches and substitute fielder Nurul Sohan running out Harmer with a throw from 55 metres that hit the base of the only stump he could aim at from the deep-cover boundary.
Dean Elgar’s 64 was the highest score for the Proteas, who suffered a horrible collapse from 115/1 shortly after lunch to be all out midway through the final session.
Once again Mehidy Hasan was outstanding, providing control at one end.
Perhaps recognising an opportunity to push for victory with SA’s batters playing tentatively, Taskin bowled through the pain of whatever was ailing his shoulder, delivering 11 overs and getting the ball to reverse and picking up two wickets.
Mehidy bowled a marathon spell of 35 overs, conceding 85 runs, and claiming three wickets, but from a SA perspective seeing so many balls spinning sharply would have helped the moods of their spinners.
As the teams left the field, there was only one that would have felt they were seemingly capable of winning the match.