Lunch South Africa 95 for 0 (Elgar 60*, Erwee 32*) vs Bangladesh
Dean Elgar and
Sarel Erwee put on 95 runs in the morning session after the cricket finally got underway at Kingsmead, following a 35-minute delay.
Malfunctioning sight screens, which could not be properly switched off to remove the sponsor’s name, had to be covered with white cloth, and it took groundstaff over half-an-hour after the scheduled 10am start to complete the job. The effects of that delay might be seen later in the day, as early sunsets on South Africa’s east coast often result in curtailed days.
South Africa’s openers made sure they made the most of the time they had in the middle and scored at a rate of 3.5 to leave
Mominul Haque wondering if his decision to bowl first was the correct one. On an unusually brown-green surface, the likes of which has not been seen here before, his Bangladesh three-seam attack found little to exploit, with no extra bounce, or seam movement.
Elgar started the innings by clipping a knee-high full-toss from
Taskin Ahmed in front of square for four and went on to find the boundary six times in the first ten overs. Of those, one was off the outside edge, but the rest were well-timed and well-placed shots off over-pitched or wide deliveries, which were in plentiful supply. South Africa’s fifty came up in the 12th over when Elgar took three boundaries off
Ebadot Hossain and began to play the ball late, to suggest he was set.
Bangladesh threatened three times in the morning session, once when Elgar was beaten as he flashed at a
Khaled Ahmed delivery, then in Taskin’s second spell, when he squared Erwee up and the ball just missed the outside edge, and two overs later, when Erwee shouldered arms to a ball that moved away. Erwee had left well to that point and continued to do so afterwards, content to play a supporting act to Elgar’s aggression.
The South African captain brought up fifty off 60 balls, as spin was introduced and quietened things down a touch.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz could have given Bangladesh some joy on the stroke of lunch when Erwee tried to slash a short ball through the off side, top-edged and was put down by
Litton Das.
Bangladesh are without Shoriful Islam, who has a niggle, and Tamim Iqbal, who was ruled out this morning because of a stomach ache.
South Africa, in anticipation of slower, lower conditions, selected two spinners in the starting XI for the first time since 1970 and included Kolpak-returnee Simon Harmer to partner Keshav Maharaj. They gave a debut to Lizaad Williams, who was preferred over Glenton Stuurman and Lutho Sipamla to share the new ball with Duanne Olivier, and included a seam-bowling allrounder in Wiaan Mulder.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s South Africa correspondent
