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Symcox Spine
**Patrick Leonard Symcox, former South African off-spinner and a thinking cricketer, is now in Bangladesh to cover the Proteas' maiden tour to this country as a commentator for Star Sports. Symcox has been kind enough to offer his insight through this exclusive column for the readers of THE Daily Star. He will give his expert views on everyday's play in the two-match Test series.**
DAY ONE: At the close of play on the first day South Africa had played themselves into a position from which they can dominate the entire Test match. This is every captains dream and Graeme Smith would have settles for what he has on the board had he been asked prior to the start of play.
However, Tests are won and lost sometimes in the matter of one session and Bangladesh will realise that it happened to them today. They had the Proteas in a vice-like grip at the lunch break and somehow they just managed to hang in and through Rudolph and Boucher they turned the tide. It took patience, courage and a huge amount of application to do it. Along the way they also had their share of luck.
Khaled Mahmud will remember the stumping chance that went wrong when Boucher played all round a delivery of Ashraful and the keeper made a hash of it. It was to be the defining moment of the day.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the South African captain was the first man out. Bangladesh showed that they have been studying his technique and gave him nothing on leg stump. Smith showed patience outside his off stump but just could not resist a pull shot with a fielder posted in the deep for that exact shot. His departed the crease with a slow walk back to the pavilion and had
disappointment written all over his face. He more than anyone, knew that the shot was just not on.
Gibbs played with plenty of caution and indicated that he was setting himself up for a big score. He too ran out of patience. Being a slow pitch with very little bounce, the spinners were always going to play a major part. Rafique was drafted in and did what was asked of him. He dismissed Dippenaar and Mckenzie within a short space of time and at 61 for 4 the innings was tottering on the brink of disaster. Dippenaar pushed forward and may have hit his pad and not the ball. McKenzie played across the line to a skidding delivery and was out LBW. Except for Rudolph, the top order looked unable to release the pressure by rotating the strike. The sweep shot has always served the South Africans well on the subcontinent and it is a very real opportunity to keep the scoreboard ticking without a huge risk. Obviously it has to be practised and played well but it is expected at this level. Eventually the fielder on the boundary protecting against the sweep shot was even brought in.
Jacques Rudolph once again looked like a seasoned campaigner at the crease. His ability to open the blade and play squarer than his teammates gives him an additional scoring option as well as allowing him to generate enough pace to beat the fielders. This is the way of the subcontinent and some of the
Proteas have not twigged onto it yet. Rudolph perished to the same shot he played on 98 in the previous test. Only this time the keeper caught the ball. An aspect of his game against spin he will need to work on is the issue of coming down the wicket to hit the ball on the half volley. Once beaten in the flight, he is then stranded. A better option is to attempt to get to the ball on the full toss and then if beaten to still get the half volley. A subtle change but very important.
Mark Boucher is a man for a crisis and again it showed. His experience and ability make him such a vital part of the South African batting line-up. His contribution was invaluable today. Pollock started slowly and once settled played some powerful strokes with debut man Peterson. They have guided the total to a point that Bangladesh will be under huge pressure when they bat.
The Bangladesh bowlers aside from Rafique and captain Mahmud showed an inability to build pressure through consistency. The leggie Kapali was again disappointing and needs to step up to the plate for Bangladesh. These pitches just aren't conducive to the faster men taking wickets and this makes him a strike bowler. Right now he is miles away from that.
It was a day of fluctuating fortunes and certainly an entertaining day.