Chittagong – From the outside Hashim Amla appears to be the most conservative man. But the longer his tenure as captain of the Proteas Test side plays out, the more he reveals a streak that breaks with convention.
In his very first Test in charge last year against Sri Lanka in Galle he set the hosts an enticing target. Eyebrows were raised – even from his fellow lieutenants within the Proteas dressingroom that had been moulded by previous captain Graeme Smith – but ultimately it paid dividends as Amla’s calculated gamble had bought sufficient time for his bowlers to dismiss the opposition.
On Wednesday,day two of the first Test, his bowling changes had the Midas touch when he introduced part-timer Stiaan van Zyl into the attack. The Bangladeshi opening pair of Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes had shown great application and patience during a testing examination from Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.
South Africa’s new ball bowlers were disciplined in their lengths and line and passed the outside edge of both left-handers on numerous occasions, but such has been the Proteas’ luck on this tour thus far that neither – not even Steyn with his Wimbledon-styled headband - could muster the much-needed breakthrough.
Enter Van Zyl. The new Proteas opening batsman is nothing more than gentle medium pace. But that was sufficient to strangle Imrul Kayes down the leg-side, much like Van Zyl was actually dismissed himself , but only this time it required some neat glovework from Quinton de Kock to complete the dismissal.
The wicket was a cause of double celebration for the Proteas. De Kock desperately needed a confidence booster after his horror displays in front of the stumps recently, and hopefully for the 22-year-old “the feel-good factor” will permeate through to his batting.
However, this first Test was always going be a trial of spin. Both when South Africa are batting against the Bangladeshi tweakers and how their rookie off-spinner Simon Harmer goes in conditions that are expected to assist him.
Thus far, Harmer has fared admirably, encouraged through his early dismissal of Mominul Haque. Bangladesh’s second wicket to fall indicated that Harmer, playing only his second Test and first on the subcontinent, was a quick learner.
The previous ball Harmer had delivered a big turning off-break that not only spun viciously past Mominul’s outside edge, but also kicked and bounced off the helpful surface. The groans behind the stumps from the slip cordon certainly indicated they were sufficiently impressed.
But like the gospel bowling coach’s of both the pace and spin variety preach here on the subcontinent, it is the usually the follow-up ball that is the most dangerous. And that is exactly what Harmer delivered when he opted to go flatter and quicker next up, deceiving Mominul who shaped to cut a ball that was too close to his body.
Harmer created further problems during his morning spell, with the ball now turning appreciably already, but new batsman Mahmudullah was not prepared to simply allow South Africa’s big blond spinner to dictate terms to him.
With the run-rate rarely above the 2.5 per over during the session as Bangladesh tried to absorb the pressure, the right-hander decided to lift the tempo with a couple of successive boundaries off Harmer. Not afraid to use his feet to get to the pitch of the ball, Mahmudullah went through mid-wicket on both occasions.
There is sufficient evidence that it is going to take hard work from South Africa’s bowlers to restrict the hosts to anything less than a first-innings lead, but like we saw yesterday afternoon when the Proteas were mauled in the final session, wickets do tend to fall in clusters here at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
First Test, Day 2, Lunch
South Africa: 248 all out
Bangladesh: 80/2 (Tamim Iqbal 30*, Van Zyl 1/6, Harmer 1/26)