A day of many marks

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If Day Two of the second Test at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium yesterday was a day of fulfilling individual desires then the wishes were granted in a most fascinating fashion.

South Africa captain Graeme and Neil McKenzie broke a 53-year-old record when they produced a marathon 415 runs for the first wicket, edging out the previous best of 413 by India’s Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad against New Zealand in Chennai way back in 1956.

McKenzie, back into the Test fold after a long time, stroked his first double hundred. Wily left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique, playing his final Test match, got his desired two wickets after the tea break to become only the first Bangladeshi to have taken 100 wickets. Fiery South African fast bowler Dale Steyn, playing only his 20th Test, also completed his century with a three-wicket burst.

It was also an exceptional day of Test cricket that saw ten wickets fall after a wicketless first day.

However, the misery of the hosts has not changed a bit with another defeat staring in the face after South Africa declared on 583-7 and then reduced Bangladesh to 60-3 with Shahriar Nafees (7) and nighwatchman Abdur Razzak (8) barely surviving the final overs.

The day started with an expectation of whether Smith and McKenzie could add another nine runs to the overnight score of 405-0 to create history and the gutsy South Africa captain did it in style; hitting left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan for a boundary in the opening over, and then took a single to get back the strike. He took another risky single off Mashrafe Mortaza to take South Africa to within three runs of the landmark. Two hurried singles equalled the record and the landmark came when Smith tucked Shakib to square leg.

McKenzie moment of glory came half an hour before lunch when he drove Rafique through the covers to complete his maiden double hundred. It was only the second time in Test cricket history that two opening batsmen had scored double hundreds in the same innings of a Test match after Australian Bobby Simpson and Bill Lawry’s feat at Kensington Oval in Barbados against West Indies in 1965.

Bangladesh’s long wait for a wicket came to an end when Smith, on 232, attempted a slog sweep and was clean bowled by Razzak.

For a change, the post-lunch session belonged to Bangladesh first Test bowling hero Shahadat Hossain initiated a sudden collapse by taking three wickets as the visitors lost four wickets within ten runs before Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher steadied the ship again to put up their highest total against Bangladesh.

Shahadat used the old ball to good effect and the reverse swing earned him the wickets of McKenzie (226), Hashim Amla (38) and Ashwell Prince (2).

Rafique’s moment came after tea when he had Mark Boucher caught at cover and then forced Robin Peterson to edge one to the waiting hands of Zunaed Siddiqui at first slip. The moment after Zunaed took the catch, the whole Bangladesh team rushed to congratulate the born fighter. It was also nice to see umpire Aleem Dar presenting the ball to Rafique when South Africa declared their first innings immediately after the fall of Peterson.

But the celebration turned sour after a familiar top-order collapse. This time however it was a fine exhibition of fast bowling from Steyn that effectively killed Bangladesh’s hopes of any turnaround.

Steyn in an interview with The Daily Star Sport said that he did not like to hit a batsman and it was the ugly side of the game.

But the South African succumbed to his fast bowler instincts, in an inspired spell of pace bowling. Using whatever help the surface provided, Steyn troubled both Zunaed and Tamim with short deliveries into their rib-cage to soften them up before scalping them.

And Ashraful was subject to a peach of a delivery first up, one that left him no time to get his hands out of the way as it kissed his gloves on way to Mark Boucher.

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