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Bangladesh 217 (Tamim 47, Mulder 3-15, Olivier 2-17) and 27 for 3 (Maharaj 2-17) need another 386 runs to beat South Africa 453 (Maharaj 84, Elgar 70, Bavuma 67, Petersen 64, Taijul 6-135, Khaled 3-100) and 176 for 6 dec. (Erwee 41, Verreynne 39*, Taijul 3-67)
Port Elizabeth: South Africa asserted their dominance on day three against Bangladesh and are on the verge of completing a clean sweep in the Test series.
After bowling out Bangladesh for 217, South Africa batters scored quickly to set a target of 413 and the spinners struck in the tricky period of play to put the visitors on the backfoot at stumps on day three.
After a slightly delayed start, Mushfiqur Rahim with Yasir Ali kept the score moving, mounting resistance in the first session. Yasir got the momentum in Bangladesh’s favour with three consecutive fours in the first three balls of the day off Lizaad Williams’ bowling.
The two remained planted firm on the crease in the first hour negotiating threatening spells from Wiaan Mulder and Duanne Olivier. However, Keshav Maharaj’s introduction worked wonders for the hosts.
South Africa deployed an aggressive field to support Maharaj who was finding turn and bounce, forcing a false shot from Yasir after their partnership crossed the 70-run mark. Maharaj gave the ball some flight, deceiving Yasir in the air and the leading edge was comfortably caught by the bowler which meant that Yasir walked back agonisingly four runs short of what would have been his second Test fifty.
In the penultimate over of the first session, the hosts snared another important wicket, this time that of Rahim who fell immediately after scoring his 25th Test fifty.
After the second session resumed, it took South Africa 3.2 overs to remove the Bangladesh tail. Simon Harmer picked the wickets of Taijul Islam (5) and Ebadot Hossain (0) while Maharaj removed Mehidy Hasan Miraz for 11 runs.
South Africa bowled the visitors to a mere 217, giving themselves a massive lead of 236 runs before walking out to bat in the second innings.
The Proteas' opening pair of Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee did not take much time to get going, finding boundaries consistently.
The partnership propelled the South Africa total beyond the fifty-run mark in as many deliveries before Elgar (26) lost his wicket bowled attempting to reverse-sweep Taijul.
Keegan Petersen started positively but lost his wicket on the stroke of tea, trapped in front of the stumps by Taijul.
Bangladesh struck again on the other side of the break, with Erwee falling nine runs short of a half-century. The 29-run stand between Temba Bavuma and Ryan Rickelton steadied the ship before Taijul picked his third wicket to remove the latter for 12.
While Bavuma was solid at one end, Kyle Verreynne took the attack to the Bangladesh bowlers with 30-ball 39. Mehidy Hasan Miraz scalped Bavuma to break the partnership and struck again to bring an end to Verreynne's quickfire innings. South Africa declared after the wicket, giving the Bangladesh batters a tricky period of play to negotiate.
With the pitch assisting the spinners, South Africa started with Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer. The move reaped immediate dividends as Mahmudul Hasan Joy was back in the pavilion for a pair.
He then trapped Najmul Hossain Shanto in his next over before Harmer dismissed Tamim Iqbal on the stroke of stumps.
