Early struggles birth right ideas

After a few overs had been bowled in the third session, wicketkeeper Liton Das was captured by the stump mic telling Mehedi Hasan Miraz 'don't give away runs'. It was a crucial phase of the game, with Bangladesh having taken four South African wickets after leaking runs early in the first session. The Tigers had apparently reached the right ideas, attacking with pace and defending with spin.

There were hints from the likes of coach Russell Domingo and skipper Mominul Haque before the game that the wicket in Durban was hard to read. The Bangladesh skipper felt that it might aid pacers but also be good for batting. That certainly proved to be the case in the first session, but the Tigers' pacers floundered in terms of line and length, perhaps getting a bit carried away by the greenish top.

The first session saw Proteas openers Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee dictate terms with Taskin Ahmed and Ebadat Hossain wavering in their line, often bowling a bit too wide. The left-handed openers, in particular Elgar, latched onto anything wide while anything short enough was pulled or slashed. The bounce was excitable, but without the consistency of line and length, runs flowed. South Africa went to lunch at 95 for no loss.

It took a truly menacing delivery from pacer Khaled Ahmed, in for the injured Shoriful Islam, to create the breakthrough after lunch. The delivery was a bit fuller than good-length on the surface, but the bounce caught Elgar, who had been flowing smoothly, off-guard. The batter tried to get out of the line of the delivery but it took his gloves and Liton took the catch to end Elgar's innings on 67.

Miraz came into the attack in that second session and maintained the pressure and that produced another wicket as Erwee failed to meet the pitch of the delivery and dragged a Miraz delivery onto his stumps. The pitch also appeared to have a sort of subcontinental flavour to it, perhaps the reason the hosts have not enjoyed their outings at Kingsmead, managing just one win in the last nine matches here.

Taskin and Khaled managed to bring deliveries back into the right-handed Temba Bavuma and Keegan Peetersen during a tricky spell, drying up the runs enough to create pressure. That led to Mehedi effecting a brilliant run-out to remove the latter.

South Africa then lost Ryan Rickelton, out trying to pull an Ebadat delivery, that bounced a bit extra in the third session. The pace attack hit upon the right idea of hitting the pitch hard, but a few chances fell just away from the slip cordon.

Shoriful's absence was a big loss, felt not only in terms of individual ability in the morning session. The right-arm pacers had bowled at two left-handers from over the wicket but it did not produce the rough Miraz could have later used. There was definite turn on offer and it remains to be seen whether South Africa made the right call with only two spinners, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer, in their line-up.

Miraz had put in an effective showing on a pitch considered good to bat on, allowing the pace attack to keep trying to make things happen. However, if Keshav can use those footmarks in the later parts of this Test match, things could get interesting, especially with Bangladesh opting against picking left-arm spinner Taijul Islam.