Rain-hit Test ends in tame draw

CHITTAGONG, July 25 (UNB): Relentless rain for the last two days in Chittagong forced the first Test between Bangladesh and South Africa to end in a draw on day five in their two-match National Polymer Test Cricket Series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium here Saturday.
The fifth and final day's play of the first Test was scheduled to start at 9:30 am Saturday. Finally it was called off at 12:00 pm (Bangladesh time) without a ball being bowled for rain.
This is the first time ninth ranked Bangladesh have played draw against number one Test ranked South Africa. The success came in their ninth Test meetings.
Earlier, Bangladesh faced mighty Proteas in eight Tests and lost all to them, including humiliating innings defeat, in seven of them while by five wickets in one match.
The Tigers will face the Proteas in the second Test of the series beginning at 9:30 am Thursday (July 30) at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in the city.
In the first Test on the third day, visiting South Africa were trailing by 17 runs scoring 61 for no loss in 21.1 overs in their second innings against Bangladesh who took 78 runs lead in their first innings. Stiaan van Zyl and Dean Elgar were on unbeaten 33 and 28 runs respectively in the opening stand.
The Tigers' superb bowling attack restricted the Proteas to 248 in the first innings on the first day and scored 326 runs in their first innings with combined batting efforts, finished in the third day's second session.
Bangladesh showed their better strength in the Test. Liton Kumar Das made his first Test half century of 50 runs on third and shared an 82-run partnership with world best all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in the sixth wicket stand in 29.1 overs.
Liton's 50 runs in the first innings made him the youngest wicketkeeper (20 years 281days) to make a 50-plus score in Tests against South Africa. The previous youngest was Sri Lanka's Niroshan Dickwella (21years 31days) who scored 72 runs against South Africa in Colombo last year.
Bangladesh's three batsmen made 50-plus scores in the same Test innings for the first time against South Africa. Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and Liton Das scored 57, 67 and 50 respectively in the first innings of this Test.
Bangladesh scored 326 runs in the first innings which is the highest against South Africa and first time they scored 300-plus runs against them. The Tigers' previous highest score against South Africa was 259, also in Chittagong, in 2008.
Bangladesh took a 78-run lead in the first innings that is their biggest first-innings lead against any team when batting second in a Test match. They batted second in 36 previous Tests and the highest lead achieved by Bangladesh was 68, against Sri Lanka in Galle, in 2013.
Bangladesh played 116.1 overs in the first innings, their best total in a Test innings against South Africa, and the first time they have played 100-plus overs against them. The previous highest they had played against South Africa was 87.5 overs in East London in 2002.
Bangladesh's seven top order batsmen out of eight have posted 25-plus scores for the fourth time in the same Test innings. They achieved the feat in the first innings of this Test previously against West Indies (twice) and Pakistan.

Scoreboard

South Africa 1st innings: (T Bavuma 54; Mustafizur Rahman 4-37, Jubair Hossain 3-53)
Bangladesh first innings:
Tamim Iqbal b Elgar     57
I Kayes st de Kock b van Zyl     26
Mominul Haque v Harmer    6 Mahmudullah lbw b Philander     67
Mushfiqur Rahim lbw b Steyn     28
Shakib c Duminy b Harmer     47
Litton Das c de Kock b Harmer     50
M Shahid c van Zyl b Philander     25
Taijul Islam c Elgar b Steyn     9
Mustafizur c Duminy b Steyn     3
Jubair Hossain not out     0
Extras: (lb 7, nb1)     8
Total: (for five wickets; 94 overs) 252
Fall of wickets: 1-46 (Imrul), 2-55 (Mominul), 3-144 (Tamim), 4-178 (Mahmudullah), 5-195 (Rahim), 6-277 (Shakib), 7-311(Shahid), 8-319 (Das), 9-325 (Taijul), 10-326 (Mustafizur)
Bowling: Steyn 22.1-5-78-3, Philander 20-2-40-2 (nb1), Morkel 19-2-52-0, Harmer 35-8-105-3, van Zyl 13-4-23-1, Elgar 3-0-6-1, Duminy 4-0-15-0
South Africa 2nd innings:
S van Zyl not out     33
D Elgar not out     28
Extras:     0
Total: (no wicket; 21.1 overs) 61
To bat: H Amla, F du Plessis, T Bavuma, Q de Kock, J Duminy, V Philander, D Steyn, S Harmer, M Morkel
Bowling: Mustafizur 5-0-21-0, Taijul 2-0-4-0, Mahmudullah 1-1-0-0, Shakib 5-0-19-0, Shahid 6-1-12-0, Jubair 2.1-1-5-0
Result: Match drawn
Toss: South Africa
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG) and Joel Wilson (WI)
Third umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)