In the end, it was a disappointingly typical first day of a Bangladesh Testmatch

Wisden Bulletin by Amit Varma24-Apr-2003In the end, it was a disappointingly typical first day of a Bangladesh Testmatch. Bangladesh were bowled out for 173, after which South Africa eased to83 for 2, on course for an easy victory. But there was more to the day thanjust that.At one point, Bangladesh were more than just holding their own – they wereon top. Habibul Bashar and Javed Omar had added 83 runs for the secondwicket, and Bangladesh were headed towards 100 for the loss of just onewicket. The pitch offered no assistance to South Africa’s bowlers, and themomentum had been seized by Bangladesh.But then the floodgates opened at Chittagong. Omar and Bashar were outwithin minutes of each other, and the centre did not hold. Paul Adams bowledsuperbly to take 5 for 37, and Bangladesh stuttered to 173. Graeme Smith andHerschelle Gibbs lost their wickets displaying unnecessary aggression, butSouth Africa were still on top when the day wound down.Bangladesh’s familiar collapse in the afternoon had been preceded by bothgrim resolve and fiesty counter-attack, in equal measure, in the morning.Khaled Mahmud had opted to bat first on a flat, slow-paced pitch, and SouthAfrica had struck early. Mehrab Hossain flashed outside off to ShaunPollock, getting a regulation outside edge through to Mark Boucher (14 for1).But there wasn’t much in the pitch for the fast bowlers, and patience wasthe need of the hour. Bashar and Omar displayed that in spades, seeing off ahostile spell from Makhaya Ntini, who tested both batsmen with short-pitchedbowling. The variable bounce of the pitch made a few balls stay low and skidthrough, but Ntini actually got a few to snort up off a good length.Both batsmen played a compact game, letting many balls go past the offstump. Their circumspection was not carried to an extreme, though, and oncethey got their eye in, both batsmen played positively.Bashar’s driving square of the wicket and through cover was a delight. Hesingled out Charl Willoughby for special treatment, smacking him for fourfours in three overs before lunch. He began the post-lunch session with aclassy pull of Ntini, then drove Pollock to the cover boundary to bring uphis half-century, then pulled Ntini for four again.But the Bangladesh supporters soon got a respite from pinching themselves indisbelief. Omar, whose 28 off 106 balls was a lesson to his team-mates inapplication, was adjudged lbw to Alan Dawson in the 32nd over of the game(97 for 2).Bashar, on 60, slashed Dawson to Herschelle Gibbs at point (100 for 3).Akram Khan, after a doughty 13 off 53 balls, played across the line to PaulAdams and was caught at silly point by Jacques Rudolph (124 for 4). AlokKapali was then caught behind for a duck, trying to cut Adams but onlymanaging to edge the ball (124 for 5).Mohammad Ashraful (12 off 54) pulled the first ball after tea from Adams toBoeta Dippenaar at midwicket, and Bangladesh were 126 for 6. Some lustyslogging from Mashrafe Mortaza (20 off 15) and his 26-run last-wicketpartnership with Mohammad Salim (16 not out) took Bangladesh past 150, butit was more desperation than calculated assault.Mortaza was a mess with the new ball when South Africa walked out to bat. Hebowled four no-balls in his first over, and conceded 28 runs in his firsttwo overs. Gibbs and Smith obliged the hit-me balls that Mortaza bowled, andSouth Africa were off to a flyer.Smith and Gibbs both threw their wickets away needlessly, though. Smith (16)flashed at a ball outside off from Tapash Baisya, and Salim took a gooddiving catch to his left (38 for 1). Gibbs, one ball after a mishit slog offMortaza landed safely in no-man’s zone, mishit another slog that Salim heldon to easily.Dippenaar and Jacques Rudolph saw off the rest of the day easily, and lookedforward, no doubt, to more easy runs the next day. Bangladesh mused on whatit meant to win the first session of a Test match – nothing at all.