[rafiq]

SOUTH AFRICA SITTING PRETTY
Boetta Dippenaar and Jacques Rudolf slowly but remorselessly ground a mediocre Bangladesh attack into the Chittangong dust, putting on an unbeaten 129 for the third wicket. South Africa added 86 in the session and lost no wicket.
After a cautious start, they tucked into friendly bowling that looked bereft of teeth and ideas, on a wicket where the ball kept low and turned.

Khaled Mahmud, the captain, set a bad example, striving for extra pace and bowling erratically both sides of the wicket. He served up a shoddy mix of full tosses and half-volleys, but escaped punishment when he strayed wide down the leg side or outside off. It was a frustrating morning for Bangladeshi supporters, in stark contrast to yesterday when the batsmen put up a fight.

Tapash Baisya and Mashrafe Mortaza opened the bowling in the morning, with Mortaza looking more in control of his rhythm than he did yesterday when he was thrashed for 43 off six overs. His three overs cost just 11 today, before he was hauled out of the attack.

Jacques Rudolph, unflustered on Test debut, and Boeta Dippenaar played straight and displayed nifty footwork. They avoided the sweep and took toll of the many loose balls on offer.

Rudolph took their third-wicket stand past the fifty mark with a stylishly executed cover drive to the fence off a juicy, wide half- volley from Baisya. The hundred of the partnership was brought up with another beautifully timed cover drive. His driving off the front foot was the highlight of the morning’s play.

Enamul Haque, the left-arm spinner, was brought on in the 30th over to replace Mortaza, and Rudolph, who stands erect at the point of delivery, greeted him with thump to the cover boundary.

Haque, his receding forehead glistening with sweat, disappointingly refused to flight the ball even as the pitch offered turn. In the 40th over, he spun two balls viciously across the face of Dippenaar’s bat, one of which needed the third umpire’s intervention for an attempted stumping.

But strangely, Mahmud switched Haque to the other end just when he looked penetrating from the Ispahani end. Alok Kapali, the leg spinner was brought on after an inexplicable delay, and Mahmud made Bangladesh’s morning worse by dropping Dippenaar at first slip, a position normally manned by Habibul Bashar. He was slow to react to a thick outside edge, casually grabbing at the ball flying to his left. Dippenaar was on 47.

That was one of the few moments of hope for a Bangladesh attack that looked hopelessly inadequate in their endeavour to get ten South African wickets, leave alone twenty in the match.