Tristan Luus took four wickets as South Africa U19 beat Bangladesh U19 by four wickets (DLS method) in the third match of their five-game one-day series in Khulna on Tuesday.

There were also half–centuries by Thebe Gazide and Lhuan-dre Pretorius – the pair sharing in an impressive 125-run opening partnership – as the tourists reached their 241-run target with five balls to spare.

The result put Malibongwe Maketa’s charges 2-1 up in the series after they won a rain-affected first match via the DLS method by 10 runs last Friday, before slipping to a 14-run loss on Sunday.

The series now shifts to Rajshahi for game four this Friday.

And the South Africans will be pleased to be ahead in a closely fought series that is being used by both teams as preparation for the 2024 U19 World Cup in Sri Lanka.

The home side won the toss and opted to bat first, but found themselves in early trouble thanks to the first breakthrough from Man of the Match Luus (4-60) as well as strikes by Sipho Potsane (2-38), Oliver Whitehead (1-5) and Romashan Pillay (1-42).

It left the score on 70-4 inside the opening 15 overs, but the Tigers then fought back through Chowdhury Rizwan (77 off 98 balls) and Shihab James (29).

The two added 45 together, while there was also a key contribution by No 8 Mahfuzur Rabby (74 off 66 balls).

The latter put on the highest partnership of the innings worth 76 with Rafiuzzaman Rafi (23) that eventually propelled Bangladesh to 241-9.

Debutant Gazide (53 off 58 balls) and Pretorius (66 off 79) were commanding in their reply, scoring at more than six runs to the over during their partnership that finally ended in the 21st over.

David Teeger (30), captain Juan James (34) and Richard Seletswane (18) then did the bulk of the scoring, with Pillay (13*) and Whitehead (11*) carrying the visitors to their target at the start of the final over.