South Africa shrugged off the absence of Morne Morkel to make short work of Bangladesh on the final day of the first Test, with Kagiso Rabada’s fiery spell propelling them to a 333-run victory.
Rabada set the Proteas on their way when he had Mushfiqur Rahim brilliantly-caught at slip by Hashim Amla in his first over of the day, and went on to take 3 for 10 in five overs.
His spell left no question around the end result, and Keshav Maharaj duly mopped up the tail. The left-arm spinner picked up three wickets of his own on Day 5 to record figures of 4 for 25 in the second innings and 7 for 117 in the match, as Bangladesh lost seven wickets for 41 runs on the fifth morning to fold for 90.
Although Rabada and Maharaj bowled well, there was no real excuse for Bangladesh’s collapse to their lowest Test total in South Africa. This was meant to be a tour where they converted their progress at home into a competitive performance abroad, but instead they folded weakly on a largely benign surface.
With Morkel sitting on the balcony nursing a side strain and talk of rain after lunch, the tourists had an opportunity to take South Africa to the wire. Instead they formed a spineless procession, registering their first sub-100 Test total in the past 10 years.
In the second full over the day, Rabada found some early movement to induce the edge from Mushfiqur that was held by Amla high above his head. Mahmudullah played on in Rabada’s third over, before the fast bowler trapped Liton Das lbw as the wicketkeeper-batsman failed to offer a shot to ball that ducked in to hit him in front of middle stump.
In the next over Sabbir Rahman was trapped lbw by Maharaj, and thereafter it was just a matter of time, with Bangladesh’s tailenders like stunned rabbits in Maharaj’s bright headlights.
Shafiul Islam added a farcical run-out for good measure, before Maharaj finished the game to claim his 50th Test wicket.
Brief scores:
South Africa 496/3 decl. (Dean Elgar 199, Hashim Amla 137, Aiden Markram 97; Shafiul Islam 1-74) & 247/6 decl. (Faf du Plessis 81, Temba Bavuma 71; Mominul Haque 3-27
beat Bangladesh 320 (Mominul Haque 77, Mahmudullah 66; Keshav Maharaj 3-92) & 90 (Imrul Kayes 32; Keshav Maharaj 4-25, Kagiso Rabada 3-33) by 333 runs.
