Pace battery finds its footing

The biggest threat to any side visiting South Africa has arguably always been the fast and bouncy nature of the tracks, conditions the hosts consistently utilise to undo opponents across the formats.

For Bangladesh, those wickets not only presented a challenge to the batsmen, who had to contend with two pacers who feature among the top 20 ODI bowlers in Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi. It was also a big ask of the Tigers' pace-bowling unit to match the hosts.

In the end, Bangladesh's pace bowling trio of Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam and Mustafizur Rahman did not just match the hosts' efforts but saw the Tigers come out on top. Credit must go to the Bangladesh team management, undoubtedly helped by the presence of the South Africans in the coaching panel, including head coach Russell Domingo and new pace-bowling coach Allan Donald.

After being asked to bat, Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das negotiated Rabada and Ngidi cautiously. In their first spells, Rabada conceded twenty from six overs while Ngidi gave away 18 runs from five overs respectively. The plan to hold onto their wickets saw Bangladesh post their best opening stand in South Africa as Tamim and Liton put on 94.

But after an initially conservative approach, the batters let loose. Rabada went on to concede 37 runs from his last four overs while Ngidi gave away 57 runs from his next five overs.

Jansen also remained on the expensive side, conceding 57 runs and picking up two wickets, while fourth seamer Andile Phehlukwayo recorded 63 runs for one wicket in ten overs as the Tigers posted a huge 314 for seven in their allotted overs.

One of the biggest differences between the sets of pacers on Friday was line and length. Bangladeshi seamers bowled a lot closer to the batters while the South African seamers allowed Bangladesh's batters much more room.

Taskin was far and away the standout on Friday, ending with three wickets for 36 runs from 10 overs, including a maiden.

The tall quickie bowled faster than the others in terms of average speed while maintaining a tight line and length, which saw him restrict the hosts and accumulate 40 dot balls.

In fact, 78 per cent of Taskin's deliveries hit the length against the right-handers, which earned him the wicket of the dangerous Rassie van der Dussen. Among the 13 per cent of his deliveries that found the fuller-length were the balls that got the better of Kyle Verreynne and Aiden Markram.

Shoriful also proved a valuable component in the pace battery and did not shy away from hitting the deck and testing the hosts.

Although 68 per cent of his deliveries against right-handers were length deliveries, 15 per cent found the back of the length. He ended with two wickets for 47 runs from eight overs. And while Mustafizur Rahman may have not picked up a wicket, his experience emboldened Taskin and Shoriful.

It took a while for Bangladesh's pace-bowling unit to take shape after first showing promise in the historic Test win in New Zealand earlier this year and it will be interesting to see how Donald chooses to chisel any rough edges and equip the Tigers with a venomous pace attack that can win matches abroad.