Mustafiz chips a return catch. Maharaj sews up SA's 333-run victory. Lobbed up outside off and breaks back in from the rough, Mustafiz drives weakly and scoops it to the right of the bowler. Good overhead grab from Maharaj. Soft, soft dismissal. Soft, soft innings from Bangladesh
South Africa vs Bangladesh, 1st Test at Potchefstroom, Sep 28 2017 - Ball by Ball Commentary
11.45am Morne Morkel has been ruled out of the Bloemfontein Test because of a side strain. SA have eased to a 333-run win to open their home summer. Can Bangladesh tighten up in the second Test? The second match starts from October 6. Hope you enjoyed the coverage as much as we did bringing to you. This is Deivarayan Muthu signing off on the behalf of Akshay Gopalakrishnan and Ranjith
Ruffin: "This shows how inexperienced Bangladesh are in these conditions. BCB need to arrange more A team and HP tours in SA, Aus, NZ and Eng. The national players should also get involved. Bangladesh made a total mess at the toss. Still wondering why did they elect to bowl!"
Werner: "@Stanton, Steyn will still be good, that guy is class through and through. Imagine this bowling attack with Steyn in place of Olivier and Philander in place of Phehlukwayo. No rest for the batsmen."
11.30am Well, that escalated quickly. Bangladesh lost 7 for 41 on the fifth morning to careen to 90 all out - their joint fifth-lowest total in Test cricket. Rabada ran in hard, hit the pitch harder, and set the collapse in motion by striking three times in four overs. Maharaj then took care of the tail and wound up with a match haul of seven wickets. The less said about Bangladesh's batting in the fourth innings, the better. They had endured a collapse in their first innings, too, losing 5 for 28. While SA bowled out Bangladesh twice, the tourists had managed all of nine wickets across two innings. And 'nuff said about Mushfiqur's bowl-first decision on a flat track.
Mushfiqur: Probably (would you have batted first in hindsight?). I did not know the wicket would be this flat. I thought the batsmen did not go big in the first innings that cost us. I can't remember the last time we were bowled out under 100. It was really disappointing. Probably, we will come up with good plans in the next Test match. Mominul and Mahmudullah were the positives. Mominul and Mustafiz also bowled well in the second innings. We need to be mentally tough and that is an area we need to improve.
Du Plessis: Very happy. Over the four-five days, we have executed the skills-sets very well. The bowlers were very impressive on a flat surface. From the conditions point of view, we are not happy with what we received. The only way we could get wickets on this pitch was through spin or reverse. We are not complaining it's an easy finish. Morne's loss is the most disappointing. Happy with the debutants. Aiden might think Test cricket is pretty easy for the moment. Andile picked up a wicket when he had an opportunity. Expecting more bounce and carry in Bloemfontein
Elgar, Man of the Match: I made quite a good contribution on a flattish wicket. Nonetheless, I am happy with the performance (Was 199 bittersweet?). It is great to be out there with Aiden. I tried to ease his nerves as best as I could. I got a lot of positive advice from friends and coaches on this wicket: 'Fill your boots'. It has taken me a long time to stabilise my opening spot. It is nice to play with that monkey off the back.
length ball, spins back in from outside off, Mustafiz nearly plays on
pushed through on off, defended from the crease to silly point
Maharaj throws this up on off, defended
stanton: "Dont see Rabada as an understudy, especailly since That series win in Aus, he is definitely a strike / main bowler, and lets be very honest, i dont see Steyn coming back with the same menace."
back of a length on off, keeps low, Mehidy stoops low and blocks to the leg side
Irfaan Kahan: "Mustafizur Rahman averaged 1.4 before this test. He's more than doubled his average"
dug in short on off, fended to silly point
Tushar: "Maharaj has been an awesome find for South Africa.. a spinner who can actually spin!! "
The ball hits the bat as opposed to bat hitting ball. Slammed into the middle of the pitch, fended in front of off stump
rising short ball outside off, Mehidy pulls his bat inside the line
good length and angling in on middle, blocked to short leg
back of a length and outside off, ignored
skidding through outside off, beats the outside edge again
good length and spins in after pitching outside off, defended
Mehidy stays leg side of this full ball on middle and punches it down to long-off
tossed up and spins in, defended off the front foot
quick slider outside off, Mustafiz plays for turn and is beaten past the outside edge. Beats de Kock as well
starts outside off and breaks back in, Mustafiz wafts and misses
dug short and outside off, Mehidy rides the bounce and ramps it to the vacant third-man boundary
short and angling down leg as Mehidy sinks under it
Tobias: "@Stanton: That would make Andile Philander's understudy. At least role-wise as the seaming allrounder. However, I agree with george that Olivier and Lucky should get more opportunities (as in overs) in games like these to be ready to fill the void, once the two main men leave. Rabada has done brilliantly to replace Steyn as the pace leader by the way, while we're talking of understudies. "
back of a length and angling into a tight defence on off
shorter and angling away outside off, Mustafiz stays leg-side of the ball and upper-cuts but it drops in front of fly slip