Towhid Hridoy was dismissed lbw to Marco Jansen off the last ball of day one of the first Test at the Wanderers on Sunday, ending a superb century and a record sixth-wicket stand. Bangladesh closed on 327 for six, with Litton Das unbeaten on 92.
This is their highest total in South Africa, beating the 320 at Potchefstroom in 2017.
Hridoy made 137 off 227 balls with 14 fours and a six. Jansen speared a full ball into the blockhole, Hridoy was caught in a tangle trying to flick, and a review confirmed the lbw. He walked off to applause.
Hridoy had gone into the final stretch playing out time. Boos rang round the ground as he ran down the clock, and the physio came on after a Jansen delivery struck him on the hip. The South Africans spoke to the umpire, unimpressed.
The second new ball was taken after 80 overs, and Hridoy and Litton took the stand to 200 off 282 balls.
Their stand then broke another record. At 203, it is Bangladesh’s highest partnership against South Africa, beating the 138 by Jaker Ali and Mehidy Hasan Miraz in Mirpur in 2024. It is also the first of 100 or 150 on South African soil.
Hridoy brought up his century off 194 balls with a four through third man off Dane Paterson. It was only the second hundred by a Bangladeshi in South Africa, after Mahmudul Hasan Joy in Durban in 2022. Before that he reached 500 Test runs with a six off Simon Harmer.
The century followed his unbeaten 242 in Sylhet. Hridoy had also made 82 in the second innings there, so this is his third successive Test score of fifty or more and his second hundred in as many Tests.
Litton passed fifty off 71 balls, his 22nd in Tests. He batted fluently throughout, and the pair added 61 between tea and the century stand. Harmer went for 83 without a wicket in 16 overs, and Paterson for 68.
Bangladesh went to tea on 184 for five after 53 overs, with Hridoy on 66 and Litton on 30. The partnership had passed fifty off 79 balls shortly before, and Hridoy had reached his own fifty off 99 balls.
Rabada took two more wickets in that session, to finish with five for 51. Tanzid Hasan dragged a bouncer onto his stumps for 67, ending a 99-run stand with Hridoy. Mushfiqur Rahim then edged to third slip first ball.
Litton survived the hat-trick ball. It was Rabada’s 18th Test five-for, and he became the first bowler to take five in an innings against Bangladesh five times.
Tanzid and Hridoy’s stand was Bangladesh’s highest in South Africa until the Litton partnership passed it. It beat the 84 by Hannan Sarkar and Habibul Bashar in 2002, and had lasted less than two hours as a record.
Bangladesh went to lunch on 91 for three, with Tanzid unbeaten on 51 and Hridoy on 23. Tanzid reached his second Test fifty in the last over of the session, after his century against Australia in Darwin.
Rabada had struck three times in his opening spell to leave Bangladesh on 22 for three. Debutant Mahfizul Islam Robin was caught behind first ball, Mominul Haque went for a duck, and Najmul Hossain Shanto was bowled by a delivery that came back in.
Shanto had chosen to bat first on a bouncy, seaming surface, and Bangladesh arrived without a warm-up game. Hridoy had scored 350 not out for Bangladesh A in South Africa last August, the highest first-class score by a visiting batter there.