Bangladesh were in the unusual situation of having the upper hand as their bowlers put South Africa under pressure on the second day of the second and final Test at Centurion Park here on Thursday. South Africa were reduced to 134 for five in reply to Bangladesh's first innings total of 250 before Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher took them to 192 without further loss by tea.
Before the Prince-Boucher stand only Hashim Amla, who made 71, managed to get on top of Bangladesh's lightly-regarded bowling. It was a remarkable comeback for the tourists after being crushed by an innings and 129 runs in the first Test in Bloemfontein.
Bangladesh came into the match with a record of only one win against 49 defeats in 56 Tests. They were criticised by South African captain Graeme Smith, who questioned whether the country deserved to have Test status.
The initial pressure was exerted by the Bangladesh pace bowlers but the main damage was done by left-armer spinner Shakib Al Hasan, who took three wickets in the space of 17 balls in the first hour after lunch. He had figures of three for 49 at tea. Al Hasan bowled the out-of-form Jacques Kallis for 24, made off 72 balls, when Kallis played outside a straight ball and the ball deflected off his pad onto the stumps.
Al Hasan then had Amla caught off bat and pad at silly point by Imrul Kayes. Amla faced 140 balls and hit 10 fours. Two balls later AB de Villiers went down the pitch to Al Hasan, the ball spun past the outside edge of his bat and he was stumped. It was the first time in his 47-Test career that De Villiers had been dismissed without scoring, ending a world record sequence of 78 innings without a duck.
SCOREBOARD:
-- Bangladesh, first innings, 250
-- South Africa, first innings (overnight 20-1)
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G Smith lbw b Mahbubul Alam 27
N McKenzie c R Hasan b M Mortaza 0
H Amla c Imrul Kayes b Shakib 71
J Kallis b Shakib Al Hasan 24
A Prince not out 34
A de Villiers st M Rahim b Shakib 0
M Boucher not out 27
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Extras: (lb3, nb6) 9
Total: (5 wkts, 62 overs) 192
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Falls: 1-3 (McKenzie), 2-47 (Smith), 3-112 (Kallis), 4-134 (Amla), 5-134 (De Villiers)
Bowling: Mashrafe Mortaza 15-0-46-1 (4nb), Mahbubul Alam 15-2-45-1, Shakib Al Hasan 15-2-49-3, Shahadat Hossain 13-2-39-0 (2nb), Mehrab Hossain 4-0-10-0.
To bat: M Morkel, D Steyn, M Ntini, M Zondeki
Umpires: S Davis (AUS), I Gould (ENG).
TV umpire: B Jerling (RSA). Match referee: A Hurst (AUS).
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