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Bowlers toil in rain

BlSHWAJIT Roy in Bloemfontein
The unknown pitch and overcast conditions prompted Bangladesh to invite their mighty opponents to bat first but Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla led from the front with unbeaten hundreds to put the Proteas on top in the rain-interrupted first day of the first Test at the OUTsurance Oval yesterday.
At the end of the day South Africa had amassed 299 for one in 81 overs with Smith on 138 and Amla on 103 still at the crease.
Fit-again Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and Mahbubul Alam operated the new ball with a tidy line in a grassy, newly-laid pitch. But Smith and his opening partner Neil McKenzie showed more determination to provide a platform on which the captain and number three Amla later dominated.
Skipper Smith continued his good showing against his happy-hunting side as the sturdy left-hander smashed his third hundred against the Tigers - the previous two in six matches in total were double-hundreds
The bearded Amla reached his sixth century overall, his third this year, after lofting Mehrab Hossain back over the bowlers head for a boundary.
In a day interrupted periodically by rain, the first break overlapped with tea, but play was stopped a second time for more than 40 minutes.
It made no difference as the South African
pair continued their domination against the Bangladeshi bowlers.
Smith gave one chance when he was on 118 as debutant Imrul Kayes failed to grab on at forward short-leg off Shakib Al Hasan. He went on to hit 14 fours and a huge six over long-on
The opening pair's cautious effort enabled South Africa to score 61 runs in the first session but the runs came thick and fast in the second session as South Africa made 154 for one before an early tea was taken when the rain came tumbling down.
Smith and McKenzie concentrated on rotating the strike to pick up singles as they concentrated on building their innings.
The right-hander will be upset at having missed out on his half-century after sole wicket-taker Shahadat Hossain provided the breakthrough just after lunch.
McKenzie tried to square drive a wide halfvolley from Shahadat only to reach the safe hands of Mehrab Hossain at backward point for a 42 off 118 balls that featured seven boundaries. The right-hander may have missed his deserved fifty but a nice pull shot against the grunting Shahadat through midwicket brought him his 3000th Test runs in 52 appearances.
The fruitful opening pair put on 102, their fourth century partnership.
The breakthrough was the harbinger of bad news as Amla strode to the wicket and by the end of play had piled up a century with 10 sweet strikes across the rope.
Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful used all the weapons in his arsenal but none
FROM PAGE 17
could offer any threat to the three South African batsmen.
The slower bowlers, who gave the New Zealanders some trouble in the last series at home, were nowhere to be found in much tougher conditions. Mahbubul Alam came up with good inswingers on a few occasions against left-handed Smith but South African skipper negotiated all of those deliveries safely.
The bigger worry however for the Bangladesh skipper was the wicket-keeping of
Mushfiqur Rahim.
SCOREBOARD
Scoreboard at stumps on the first day of the first Test between South Africa and Bangladesh in Bloemfontein on Wednesday:
SOUTH AFRICA: First innings
Smith not out 138
McKenzie c Mehrab b Shahadat 42
Amlanotout 103
Extras: (b-2, lb-6, nb-8) 16
Total: (For 1wkt tn 81 overs) 299 To bat: Kallis, Prince, De Villiers, Boucher, Harris, Morkel, Steyn, Ntini
Fall o fwickets: 1 -102
Bowler O M R W
Mashrafe 17 4 43 0
Mahbubul 15 5 38 0
Shahadat 14 0 81 1
Shakib 25 1 95 0
Nayeem 5 0 19 0
Mehrab 5 0 15 0
BANGLADESH: Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Zunaed Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Mehrab Hossain, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nayeem Islam, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shahadat Hossain. Mahbubul z\lam.
Toss: Bangladesh.
Umpires: SJ Davis (Australia) and IJ Gould (England).