While there was not much to garner from the two Tests against Bangladesh, the South African team at least had their own perceptions about that country’s one-day side changed.
Perhaps it is also time that the public followed suit – the Bangladesh side of 2015 is a very different one to that of a decade ago. This current group of ‘Tigers’ don’t flinch as easily as it once did and as Pakistan, India and now South Africa’s players can attest, in the 50-over format at least, they’ve found some consistency to go along with the explosive talent that is bound to exist in a country of 150-million people for whom cricket is like a religion.
South Africa won the T20 series – and as Russell Domingo, the coach was at pains to point out, that was a significant achievement in light of a World T20 Cup being held in that part of the world next April. Some new names came to the fore too; Kagiso Rabada and Eddie Leie foremost among them.
Domingo and Hashim Amla, who captained the One-Day team in the absence of AB de Villiers, admitted errors – winning the toss and batting in the last two ODIs when conditions changed drastically to favour the side chasing, foremost among those – but there was also an acknowledgement about the improvement made by the Bangladeshis.
“They are better than what people have been used to from them,” Amla remarked.
Nevertheless, he also expressed disappointment at how South Africa played, particularly with the bat, where greater nous against the home team’s spinners was needed.
The Tests are far too difficult to assess given the overwhelming role played by the weather – “the rain helped more to assess how everyone swims,” Amla chirped – but again there was disappointment in that South Africa couldn’t make more of the good start they got in the first Test in Chittagong.
Amla mentioned that as one of the positives to take from the two matches in which nearly seven days of play were lost to rain. “In the two batting innings the new opening partnership of Stiaan (van Zyl) and Dean (Elgar) looked pretty solid. Temba (Bavuma) getting runs was nice especially in the middle order – you always want your back up batsman to make runs.”
The lack of game time is a setback for a South African side in transition and which has some important assignments awaiting them later this year in India and against England. - The Star