Close South Africa 61 for 1 (Gibbs 36*) trail Bangladesh 215 (Hannan Sarkar 65, Habibul Bashar 40) by 154 runs
Scorecard

The day started and finished with batsmen pasting bowlers all round the North West Stadium at Potchefstroom, Test cricket's 86th venue. Bangladesh hurtled to 124 for 1 by lunch against a wayward attack after winning the toss. But normal service was soon resumed: the last nine wickets went down for 79, and then the South African openers scored freely against Bangladesh's enthusiastic but innocuous seamers.

Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith put on 61 in 17 overs, before being separated by what turned out to be the last ball of the day, which Smith – fresh from clubbing 200 in the first Test – thin-edged through to Khaled Masud. It was a rare wicket for Sanwar Hossain's offspin – from his first ball, too.

It all seemed so different in that slightly surreal opening session, when a club side would have been disappointed to bowl as South Africa did. Their usually mechanical line-up misfired badly – Shaun Pollock was rusty in his first Test for ten months, while Nantie Hayward, surprisingly preferred to David Terbrugge, was all over the place again.

Al-Shahriar Rokon and 19-year-old Hannan Sarkar put together Bangladesh's first half-century opening partnership overseas with some meaty clumps and streaky edges to the vacant third-man area. When Al-Shahriar went for 30, looking to turn Hayward to leg but caught by Smith in the gully (52 for 1), the door was ajar – but Bangladesh slammed it shut. Sarkar recovered from a nasty knock on the chin from Ntini to reach a brave and impressive second Test half-century, while Habibul Bashar again looked the closest thing Bangladesh have to a class act. These two piled on 72 in less than 17 overs before lunch.

You felt that South Africa's bowlers wouldn't be quite as benevolent in the afternoon session. They weren't. It was a swift and ruthless turnaround: three wickets went down in eight balls just after the interval. Sarkar reached a brave 65 before edging the lively Makhaya Ntini to second slip (136 for 2). Two balls later Sanwar was squared up by a straight one and fell lbw for 0, and next over Habibul (40) slashed at a short one from Pollock and was caught behind (140 for 4).

Khaled Masud added a painstaking 22 in 15 overs with the debutant Rafiqul Islam, who crawled to 6 off 43 balls before cutting his 44th – a rank long-hop from Jacques Kallis – straight to Gibbs in the gully (162 for 5). And Kallis struck again, with another heavy short one that Masud (20) could only fend to third slip. It was 169 for 6, and the door was off the hinges again.

After tea Bangladesh subsided to 215 all out, with only some spirited stuff from the talented Alok Kapali (38 not out from 64 balls) to cheer them up. When 16-year-old Talha Jubair was run out for a duck – a hairline decision made easier for the third umpire because the crease-line was unusually thick – Bangladesh had tumbled from 136 for 1 to 215 all out.

Tushar Imran (8) ducked a short one from Pollock, but left his bat up like a periscope. The ball kissed the bat and flew through to Boucher (184 for 7). Thirteen runs later Tapash Baisya (2), bat away from body, guided a regulation catch to third slip. And Manjural Islam hadn't scored when he pad-batted Claude Henderson low to Smith at exceedingly silly point (202 for 9).

It was a disappointing end after such a bright beginning – but no-one in the sparse crowd was terribly surprised. It could be a long day in the field for Bangladesh tomorrow, with a spot of average-massaging high on the agenda for Kirsten, Kallis and co.

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