Tea South Africa 205 for 1 (de Zorzi 101*, Stubbs 65*) v Bangladesh
So far, they have been successful in keeping South Africa quiet for periods but not long enough. Nahid Rana, the tall seam bowler, has been the pick of their attack and employed hard length and testing lines but went wicket-less. Hasan Mahmud was the bowler who could have had de Zorzi, dropped by debutant wicketkeeper Mahidul Islam in the morning session and by Shadman Islam at slip in the afternoon.
Markram’s dismissal allowed Bangladesh to pull things back. They did not concede a boundary for 21 deliveries as Tristan Stubbs played himself in. He found his first four when he reverse-swept Miraz behind point but then Bangladesh reapplied the squeeze. Another 28 balls were bowled for just 14 runs before de Zorzi brought up South Africa’s hundred with a sumptuous cover drive.
Hasan missed de Zorzi’s edge with his next ball, for the second time in the session, but de Zorzi survived. He went to lunch one away from a third Test fifty and got there in the over after the break. But that was a difficult period for South Africa and they went 91 deliveries between boundaries as they navigated Nahid Rana’s pace – which reached as much as 147.7kph – and the hint of turn Taijul was finding. Nahid’s lengths were improved from the fuller ones he employed in the morning and he stuck to the back of a length balls which proved difficult to get away.
Stubbs broke the shackles in the over before the afternoon drinks’ break when he hit Hasan Mahmud through backward point for four. Two balls later, de Zorzi edged Hasan through the hands of Shadman Islam at first slip, making it the second time Hasan had almost dismissed the opener. Nonetheless, de Zorzi and South Africa survived a period in which they scored only 34 runs in 13 overs after lunch and then things opened up a bit for them.
The next eight overs brought 32 runs at a healthier scoring rate and Stubbs brought up his second Test fifty. Taijul thought he had caught behind in the next over and Bangladesh reviewed but replays showed a clear gap between bat and ball. Stubbs went on to hit Mehidy Hasan Miraz over the sightscreen for six and de Zorzi followed suit when he entered the nineties by sending Taijul over long-on. He reached his hundred with a sweep shot off Miraz through square leg and celebrated his achievement to warm applause from the dug out, which included injured captain Temba Bavuma. De Zorzi is only the second black African batter from South Africa to score a Test hundred, after Bavuma.
