Dean Elgar Protea

Dean Elgar says he does not fear “Bazball” as the Proteas seek to inflict England’s first Test defeat under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz / BackpagePix

Proteas punish Bangladesh, go 1-0 up in Test series

After a historic series result in the preceding ODIs, a depleted South Africa will take on a rejuvenated Bangladesh in a two-Test series.

Dean Elgar Protea

Dean Elgar says he does not fear “Bazball” as the Proteas seek to inflict England’s first Test defeat under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz / BackpagePix

Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl in the first Test against the Proteas at Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday.

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Ryan Rickelton and Lizaad Williams become Test cap numbers 117 and 118, respectively, as they make their Test debuts for the Proteas.

The match also sees the return of Simon Harmer to international cricket, while Sarel Erwee and Keegan Petersen play their first match at their home ground.

The visitors were without opening batsman Tamim Iqbal because of what captain Mominul Haque described as “stomach problems”.

Mominul said he decided to bowl because there was grass on the pitch and Bangladesh had confidence in their fast bowlers.

South African captain Dean Elgar said he would have chosen to bat.

“In Test cricket I prefer to have runs on the board and with the make-up of our team we have two spinners on a ground which is known to take spin as the Test progresses.”

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After a historic series result in the preceding ODIs, a depleted South Africa will take on a rejuvenated Bangladesh in a two-Test series.

The first match will be played at the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban where the last result was an epic one-wicket win for Sri Lanka in 2019, paving their way to become the first Asian side to pocket a Test series win in South Africa.

The jitters in the home camp are obvious after the 2-1 ODI series loss ended with head coach Mark Boucher blasting his side’s “fear of failure”.

Test captain Dean Elgar has only three members from that losing squad, but the loss of IPL-bound players must enrage the skipper after he called the choice a “litmus test of loyalty” for the team members.

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Elgar will be without his first-choice pace attack of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen who combined for 54 of the 60 wickets taken in their 2-1 home series win over India.

That leaves the 13-Test old Duanne Olivier as the leader of the pack, putting more pressure on the batters.

On that note, the absence of Rassie van der Dussen owing to the IPL means a probable debut for the consistent Khaya Zondo, who has averaged 52.40 (786 runs in 13 matches) over the last two seasons in the domestic four-day tournament.

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Bangladesh will show little sympathy to the hosts’ problems as they look to rewrite another chapter in their record books.

A winless head-to-head record (D2, L10) where they lost eight by an innings and one by 333 runs is going to spur them further to show the world that the Test win in New Zealand in January was by design and not by accident.

The first of those improvements will be in the batting department as the last series in 2017 saw Bangladesh fail to play out 90 overs in any of their four innings.

The visitors are, however, making their first trips to both Durban and Gqeberha (venue for the second Test) which could be a challenge in itself.

Test captain Mominul Haque sees it as making no difference to his plans as he feels that his pacers will once again lead the charge like in New Zealand.

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Key battle

Dean Elgar needs 95 runs to become the third South African to score 500 Test runs vs Bangladesh. The left-hander has two centuries in his last three innings against them although he failed to cross 40 in his last six innings at this venue. His main tussle could be against Bangladesh’s Ebadot Hossain, who was the star of their series win in New Zealand with a ‘Player of the match’ performance in Mount Maunganui (1/75 & 6/46). His series average in New Zealand was also 29.33, which is ‘Bradmanesque’ compared to his pre-series career average of 81.54!

Stat attack

– The average first innings score at this venue over the last eight Tests is 297, with only one score above 350.

– South Africa have lost their last nine home tosses going on to bowl first in the most recent eight.

SOUTH AFRICA AND BANGLADESH TEAMS:

South Africa

Dean Elgar (captain), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, Lizaad Williams, Duanne Olivier

Bangladesh

Mominul Haque (captain), Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim, Yasir Ali, Litton Das (wkt), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain

Umpires: Marais Erasmus, Adrian Holdstock (both RSA)

TV umpire: Allahudien Paleker (RSA)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

NOTE: If the live scoring below does not display, please click HERE