BAN vs. SA 2024/25, BAN vs. SA 1st test match report, October 21st – 25th, 2024

stumps Bangladesh 106 and 101 for 3 (Mahmudul 38*, Mushfiqur 31*, Rabada 2-10) trail South Africa 308 (Verreynne 114, Mulder 54, Taijul 5-122, Mahmud 3-66, Mehidy 2-63) for 101 runs

Seven balls after bringing out the light meter for the first time on the second day, the umpires canceled the day's play due to poor light. While it was a bit abrupt, a decision from the third umpire that was a long time coming added extra drama to what turned out to be the final throw of the day.

Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque fell to single figures in the first four overs for the second time in as many days as Rabada brought out plenty of pace and bounce with the new ball. His wickets came from back-of-a-length deliveries. In the third over he managed to catch Shadman going inside to short leg where Tony de Zorzi made a sharp catch to his left. Three balls later Mominul went on defense but got an outside edge to third slip where Mulder made a low throw to grab a dip ball.

Mahmudul and Shanto added 55 to rebuild briefly before Keshav Maharaj put Shanto ahead. Maharaj received a full ball from outside in and Shanto, who had been wide open in the defensive stance, was hit on his back leg which pulled outwards.

Mushfiqur then scored an entertaining 31 from 26 deliveries in an unbroken stand of 42 with Mahmudul to ensure there was no further damage, although Bangladesh still finished the day 101 runs behind South Africa.

Taijul then had Mulder push, only to keep the outside edge from slipping. This had as much to do with Mulder playing with soft hands as it did with the slowness of the surface. Mulder and Verreynne adjusted to the pitch and calmly did their job against the spin of Taijul and Nayeem.

Both batters used the sweep and reverse sweep to great effect, although Nayeem occasionally put the ball clearly in play. This was because they took a big step forward to reach the pitch of the ball and played their shots with confidence. On the second morning they played 38 sweeps – or reverse sweeps – against spin and scored 59 runs, including seven boundaries and a six.

Bangladesh posted a man just at square leg to prevent the batters from scoring easy runs through the sweep, and yet Verreynne reached his half-century when he hit the man there. Mulder then reached his half-century at the start of the 64th over when he cut Nayeem for four.

Shanto had brought Mahmud back into the attack and he struck one after the other. First, he threw a back-of-a-length outside-off with the ball holding his line. Mulder tried to punch but barely slipped. On the next ball, Mahmud went much fuller, turned the ball to Maharaj and beat his defense to knock it off the goal post.

But Piedt, who was next, not only prevented Mahmud from scoring a hat-trick but also upset Bangladesh to no end.