A double strike by JP Duminy after lunch had Bangladesh in trouble on the first day, but they recovered well and went to tea on 154-3 in Mirpur on Thursday.
Duminy struck in consecutive overs, first removing Mominul Haque for 40, with new wicketkeeper Dane Vilas taking a good catch behind the stumps.
Imrul Kayes (30) was next, getting trapped in the crease with lazy feet and given lbw as Bangladesh were 86-3.
Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim are the two batsmen in the middle.
Dale Steyn bowled well again after lunch, focusing on the in-swinger to the right-handers rather than the out-swinger.
With some reverse swing going around, he got an lbw decision against Mahmudullah, but the batsman immediately had the decision reviewed and an inside edge on to the pads was revealed.
One of Steyn’s swinging deliveries also clipped the top of off-stump, but the bails remained unmoved. He thought it was an inside edge to the keeper, but the ball had fallen short. Not that it mattered.
South Africa lost a review after an unsuccessful lbw shout by Morne Morkel was shown to have missed the wickets comfortably.
Earlier Bangladesh went to lunch on 75-1 after recovering from Steyn’s early strike which took his Test tally to 400 wickets.
Tamim Iqbal was Steyn’s 400th Test victim as the fast bowler joined Shaun Pollock as only the second South African to achieve the milestone.
Hashim Amla took the catch at first slip off the third ball of Steyn’s third over as he became the joint second-fastest bowler, in terms of Tests played, to reach 400 Test wickets. He joins New Zealander Richard Hadlee, who also required just 80 Test matches to take 400.
But he is the fastest of them all in terms of balls bowled, taking just 16 634 compared to Hadlee’s 20 ooo-plus; at a strike rate of 41.61 against Hadlee’s 50.75 and Glenn McGrath’s 51.40
Muttiah Muralitharan remains the fastest bowler to get there in 72 Tests. Steyn’s next target will be Pollock’s tally of 421 wickets.
It was supposed to happen in the first Test against the Tigers, but rain ruined those plans as the last two days in Chittagong were washed out.
On Thursday, Bangladesh won the toss and unsurprisingly decided to bat. Steyn was on the money from the get-go and would have celebrated the milestone earlier had Dean Elgar not dropped a chance in the slips.
Steyn didn’t have to wait long though, as Iqbal (6) edged one straight to Amla, who took it comfortably to start celebrations.
Picture: AFP
