South Africa start their first Test tour of Bangladesh with a 45-minuteflight from Dhaka to Chittagong tomorrow
Pat Symcox27-May-2016South Africa start their first Test tour of Bangladesh with a 45-minuteflight from Dhaka to Chittagong tomorrow. None of the South Africans haveplayed in Chittagong before, and little is known about the conditions. Byall accounts the hotel rates rather fewer than five stars, and the weatherpredictions aren’t great. It is the rainy season, and completing a Test atall is considered fortunate. The city is a busy port, and is in verymountainous region. Humidity is the biggest enemy of any touring team.But after their solid performances in the last two outings of the TVS Cupagainst India last week, the South Africans have good reason to feel upbeatabout their progress in this part of the world. The bowlers have clearlyworked out that on these sluggish pitches, slower balls are not easy toscore from. The batsmen, on the other hand, have realised there is nosubstitute for time spent at the crease. They also now realise that ifsomeone gets in he has to go on and finish the job, as starting an inningsis not an easy task.The make-up of South Africa’s team for the first of the two Tests, whichstarts on Thursday, will be interesting. The pitch is expected to betailormade for Bangladesh’s spinners, but Eric Simons, the SA coach, has twospinners in his own squad. Simons will have to weigh up whether to play bothof them, against a team which would probably prefer that, or to bank on thefact that even on a slow turner the South African pace bowlers will still bea handful. In any case, the two-spinner option would probably mean leavingout one of the batsmen who have been doing well on subcontinental pitchesrecently.The left-armer Paul Adams is likely to be the first-choice spinner and,since Jacques Rudolph and Graeme Smith can fill in with a few oversthemselves, Robin Peterson might well miss out.In the pace department Charl Willoughby was picked specifically for hisability to swing the ball in the air when pitches aren’t conducive tolateral movement. However, the fact that he is a genuine No. 11 won’t helphis cause. Andrew Hall and Alan Dawson have stepped up when needed, andtheir batting ability will make both hard to overlook.The series may be in Bangladesh, but South Africa are still expected to comeout on top. Bangladesh, after all, have lost 16 of the 17 Tests they haveplayed so far – and their only draw came when rain washed out the last twodays of a match against Zimbabwe. It should add up to a gentle baptism forSmith as a Test captain.