Follow-on avoided, but huge deficit beckons

Bangladesh reverted to type in the afternoon session of the third day, as after a confident morning session they lost four wickets for 90 runs to reach 308 for eight to be faced with the prospect of a huge first innings deficit in a match where they will have to bat last after sending South Africa in on the first day and conceding 496 for three over the first two days of the first Test in Potchefstroom's Senwes Park.

One of the few positives for Bangladesh was that they will now make South Africa bat twice for the first time in their five contests so far in South Africa, having succumbed to innings defeats in four matches across two tours in 2002 and 2008. They achieved that feat when the seventh-wicket pair of Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Mahmudullah Riyad took them past 296 in the half hour before team. But soon afterwards Mahmudullah went playing away from his body and getting an inside edge on to the stumps , with the score on 304,  before a mix-up between Taskin Ahmed and Mehedi and a brilliant diving stop by Temba Bavuma at point resulted in a run-out to give the Proteas their eighth wicket.

The other positives were that two batsmen recently out of favour, Mominul Haque and Mahmudullah Riyad, were the only two to display any sort of comfort against a South African attack that retained its quality despite the absence of Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn and a flat wicket. Both however lost their wickets in the second session for totals well short of what their team needed if the visitors were to have a chance of getting back into the match.

Resuming at 218 for four after lunch, only nine runs were added before Mominul Haque played left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj almost straight off the bat into the hands of short leg in the 64th over for 77. That brought an end to a 69-run fifth-wicket partnership with Mahmudullah. Another half-century stand characterised by the frenzy to score runs rather than occupy the crease between Sabbir Rahman and Muhmudullah followed. Sabbir was his enterprising self -- his four fours and a six included a reverse-swept four to fine leg – but his 46-ball innings ended on 30 when he under-edged an attempted glide to third man off a Duane Olivier lifter to leave Bangladesh on 292 for six.

Earlier, Tamim Iqbal was the only casualty as Bangladesh continued to make up for their poor performance on the field over the first two days by scoring 91 runs and reaching 218 for four at lunch.

Bangladesh resumed the day on 127 for three from 34 overs with Tamim and Mominul batting on 22 and 28 respectively, and although the former creamed a square driven boundary off Kagiso Rabada off the eighth ball of the day, what followed was a period of high class fast bowling from Rabada and Morne Morkel that the pair survived by the skin of their teeth.

From the second ball if the 36th over – Tamim's boundary – to the first ball of the 40th, there were no runs scored as South Africa's frontline pacers made the ball talk. The 40th over from Rabada was undoubtedly the best over of the match. The young fast bowler got a yorker to shape back in sharply from around the wicket into Tamim, who tumbled in trying to dig it out before running through for the maiden-busting single. An appeal followed and home skipper Faf Du Plessis called for the review -- an earlier one against Tamim off the same bowler had resulted in the decision going with the umpire's call and so under new ICC rules South Africa's reviews remained intact – and although the ball had hit boot before bat, the angle was taking it down the leg side. South Africa were down one review.

That was merely the start. Mominul suffered the brunt of Rabada's brilliance in that over. Another fast in-ducker rapped Mominul on the pads in front, but replays showed a slight inside edge. The next ball pitched in the same spot but darted away. It was then that Mominul, on 28, suffered a slice of luck when, off the last ball of the over the ball which was later shown to be hitting leg-stump halfway up, had hit his pad before bat, but the docked review dissuaded Du Plessis from asking for another one.

Morkel bowled his fourth successive maiden from the other end. Off the fifth ball of his fifth, the 29th delivery the tall paceman sent down in the morning, Tamim took the first run with a single to fine leg. But at the end of the over Bangladesh had scored just seven runs off the first nine overs.

But then the dam burst with 17 runs from Rabada's next over, seven coming from Tamim's bat and 10 from Mominul. Tamim hit the first ball for a four through cover-point and took three runs from an overthrow from the same region off the next ball. Mominul pushed through cover for two and hit the fifth ball through point for a well-timed four. Rabada overcompensated for the short and wide ball with one down the leg side which Mominul helped on its way to the fine leg boundary.

Then medium pacers Duane Olivier and Andile Phehlukwayo were introduced, and it seemed that Bangladesh had passed the toughest test of the morning. They did, but Tamim slipped on a banana peel and was out against the run of play when, in the 46 th over, he edged Phehlukwayo down the leg side and was brilliantly caught by keeper Quinton de Kock, who dived to his right to pull off a one-handed stunner to send the opener back for 39. Interestingly, because of a 49-minute absence from the field before South Africa's declaration the previous day that barred him from opening the innings, this was the first time that Tamim was batting at number five (anywhere but the first two for that matter) and he scored up to his Test average.

Mominul soon reached his 12th Test 50 off his 112th ball with a shimmy down the track to hit left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj for four through long on in the 50th over. He celebrated with another square driven four in the next ball.

Riyad, dropped from the side after the Galle Test earlier this month, looked comfortable and confident against the medium pacers, hitting five fours in his 50-ball innings, including a down-the-track club down the ground off Phehlukwayo in the 53rd over.

Shortly before lunch, he enjoyed some luck as keeper De Kock dropped him off Maharaj at Mahmudullah's lunchtime score.