Shaun Pollock, South Africa's captain, criticised the pitch for the inaugural Test at the North West Stadium in Potchefstroom after Bangladesh made a flying start on the first day of the second and final Test. Pollock said he was disappointed that the pitch was "too flat". At the after-play press conference he showed journalists a battered ball which looked as though as it had been used for far more than the 69.5 overs it took to bowl Bangladesh out.

"On the first day of a Test match the pitch should do something," said Pollock. "For batsmen to be able to hit on the up on the first morning is very unusual."

For a while it seemed that Bangladesh were set for a rare day of success. Test cricket's whipping boys were in familiar territory, though, by the close of play. From 136 for 1, scored at a rollicking rate, Bangladesh crashed to 215 all out, and South Africa had reached 61 for 1 by stumps.

Pollock said he was never worried that the match would get away from South Africa, who won the first Test in East London by an innings and 107 runs. "We always knew we could pull it back by setting more defensive fields. I set very attacking fields in the morning."

The key moment came in the third over after lunch when Hannan Sarkar was caught at second slip by Jacques Kallis off Makhaya Ntini for a Test-best 65. Two balls later Ntini trapped Sanwar Hossain lbw without scoring, and at the end of the next over Habibul Bashar played a loose shot against Pollock and was caught behind by for 40.

Sarkar, 19, only heard shortly before play that he was going to replace Javed Omar from the team that played in the first Test. He survived two hard chances, one to Martin van Jaarsveld at third slip when 5 and the other to Graeme Smith at short cover when 26. In between those escapes, at 17, he suffered a cut chin from the impact of an Ntini bouncer on the grille of his helmet.

Sarkar, playing in his third Test, reached his second Test half-century off 69 balls with eight fours and went past his previous highest score of 55 against Sri Lanka in Colombo earlier this year.

He said the blow on the chin had come as a surprise. "It made me concentrate more," he said, adding that his success had been helped by the conditions: "It was a very good batting wicket."

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