Tigers struggle at Bloemfontein

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Tea: South Africa 154 for 1 (Smith 73*, Amla 33*) v Bangladesh
Graeme Smith's 73 and a fine opening stand of 102 with Neil McKenzie put South Africa firmly in charge by tea of the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh. Smith lost his opening partner for 42 during the afternoon session, but that was Bangladesh's only scalp on a day in which they were made to struggle, reports Cricinfo.
Bangladesh's decision to field caused a few raised eyebrows, not least because Martin van Jaarsveld cracked 132 from 96 balls for the Titans on this very pitch last week. Titans chased down 335 to beat Eagles in South Africa's domestic one-day competition and even Boeta Dippenaar, a man not associated with flourishing strokeplay, made 71 from just 45 balls. In such pleasant conditions, South Africa could have made hay, but Mahbubul Alam and Mashrafe Mortaza kept things tight in the first session, bowling a tidy line to restrict Smith and McKenzie.
Alam gained useful inswing to the left-hander and both he and Mortaza - fit in spite of an injury scare in the lead-up to the game - hurried Smith on what was a quicker surface than expected. Their length was less controlled than their line, however, allowing both Smith and McKenzie to nudge singles off the back foot and rotate the scoring. Early in his innings, Smith was rapped on the pad by a convinced Mortaza, though it was clearly sliding down the leg-side. McKenzie was mostly secure in defence, though he did twice fish and miss to outswingers from Alam.
A sparse Wednesday crowd (supplemented by the addition of Duncan Fletcher, the former England coach, sporting South African-green fatigues) weren't treated to much excitement in the session, but soon McKenzie was into his stride. A wonderful short-arm pull off the grunting Shahadat Hossain shot through midwicket, bringing up his 3000th Test run in the process and helping to inject some life into proceedings. Alam began to show signs of tiring in his eighth over, dropping it short to Smith who seized on a powerful cut before smudging him through midwicket for another four.
South A frica were 294/1 at 10pm