Proteas spearhead on fire at the Bullring

Kagiso Rabada took a wicket with the first ball and added two more as South Africa grabbed the ascendancy on the opening morning of the first Test with Bangladesh at DP World Wanderers on Sunday.

The tourists, who’d only arrived in SA on Wednesday, produced a good comeback in the second half of the session, going to lunch on 91/3, after their captain Najmal Hossain Shanto won the toss and chose to bat under sunny Johannesburg skies. After Rabada had reduced them to 22/3 in the ninth over, they will be ecstatic to have a foothold in the contest.

Tawid Hridoy, who set a new highest score of 242* for Bangladesh in Tests, last week against the West Indies, and Tanzid Hasan Tamim shared a 69-run partnership, taking advantage of the wayward bowling from the rest of Proteas attack. Tamim went to the interval on 51* - his second Test half-century - and Hridoy was not out on 23.

Aside from Rabada and Dane Paterson, who is playing his first Test in two years, the rest of the South African bowling was listless.

Rabada gave South Africa the perfect start, inducing an understandably nervous debutant Mahfijul Islam Robin, into a defensive prod, that flew low to Marco Jansen at gully.

Robin became the fourth batter to be dismissed, first ball on debut, joining a list that includes former SA opener, Jimmy Cook, who suffered that unfortunate fate against India, in SA’s first Test on home soil after re-admission in 1992.

In his next over, Rabada again offered irresistible temptation, with a delivery that left Mominul Haque off the pitch, giving Ryan Rickelton an easy catch behind.

Rabada wasn’t at his best, struggling to find the right line on a surface that looks patchy - there are several areas with a good grass governing, mixed with a lot of bald and grey areas.

Jansen wasted the new ball, only conceding six runs in three overs, but spraying deliveries left and right, as he struggled with rhythm.

Rabada produced the delivery of the morning to dismiss Shanto, a vicious 140km/h in-ducker, that snaked back through the Bangladeshi captain’s loose drive and sent the off-stump cartwheeling.

Temba Bavuma replaced Jansen with Paterson at the Corlett Drive End, and he offered more of a threat, by being more disciplined. But besides a couple of shouts for lbw there was little else that troubled Hridoy and Tamim.

Jansen bowled a better spell from the Golf Course End, and almost had Tamim caught in the gully, but the ball flew over Marques Ackerman’s head.

Besides the bounce, the pitch doesn’t look to have any demons and Bangladesh will feel that they should make more progress through the afternoon. Shanto said at the toss that his decision to bat was based on how dry the pitch was, which he hopes will break up and make for a difficult run chase for SA in the final innings.