RSA VS BAN - 1st Test, Bangladesh tour of South Africa, 2022

South Africa take a 1-0 lead in the 2-match Test series. They had to toil hard for four days as Bangladesh kept fighting back even though the hosts had their noses ahead the whole game. Getting bowled out yesterday turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Proteas. They were forced to bowl spin and the spin-duo struck thrice in the mini-session. Elgar persisted with them today morning and they didn't put a foot wrong. Maharaj went wicketless in the first innings despite bowling well, but he roared back in style to choke the Bangladeshis with a seven-fer. His ally - Harmer - had an impressive Test as well scalping seven wickets in his comeback game. Can Bangladesh recover from this loss? Mind you, they'll miss a couple of players to injuries as well. Well, it's time to bring the curtains down on this Test. The second Test commences on Friday at Port Elizabeth. See you there. For now, goodbye..

Simon Harmer, in a chat with the broadcasters - It was good to be back in the Test arena and contribute to the teams win. As a spinner, you try and bring control to the game, second innings wickets are vitally important and Keshav showed his class today. Shows why quality trumps at times. Different wickets will react differently, you'll have to work out trajectories, keep the batters thinking differently - make use of the line and lengths, and have them guessing. To be back involved in South African cricket is pleasing. It would have been nice to have had a Test match fifer, but that didn't go my way. Hopefully, it will happen and I will get a lot more chances. A whole lot of my family were there for the game, and to perform in front of them was something pleasing. We wanted to go past 300, we weren't sure about how the pitch plays on the final day and didn't want to be caught short. The early wickets last night helped us to go for it today, be more attacking and that worked well today. Obviously, we weren't great with the bat yesterday and that's something we need to work on. Keshav was struggling with the finger, so for him to come and do the damage last night was pleasing. The odd ball was turning and we could plant a seed of doubt in their batters. You go through stages as a bowler, the way we kept going was incredible. He has been working hard on his finger and I'm sure he'll get well soon. They looked to be a bit more aggressive against me, especially after my spell on Day 2. The next day, they batted in a more proactive manner. That ball to Shanto (on his best wicket), I kept beating him on the outside edge and then hit the top of off-stump, to do so as an off-spinner bowling to a left-hander, you can't get better than that. There's a lot of rain in PE (Port Elizabeth), so not sure about the type of wicket that'll be produced, but we'll take this confidence into the game, obviously we want to make it 2-0.

Keshav Maharaj, Player of the Match: Quite emotional, playing at home is always special. Glad that I could take the team over the line. It's just about being patient and hitting my line and length for long periods of time. Simon provided control and that helped me. As cricketers, we are impatient at times. The hard work from the first innings paid dividends in the second. I am glad there's a shift of mindset towards spin bowling in our country. Very happy for Simon. You can't take Test wins for granted, back to drawing room from tomorrow. Both my parents are here, my sister, nieces and nephews, special moment for me. I love playing at home. The Dolphins have been very good for me, very grateful to put in a performance for them out here today.

Dean Elgar | Winning captain Pretty special, it's not often we've had a Test go into five days. Hard graft, playing conditions that we are not pretty much used to. We had to apply ourselves pretty well, execute our skills which was a challenge for our young-ish bowling unit. A hard-fought Test win. We started well this time which is a massive positive for us. Conditions played a factor with regard to our team selection. We were able to select two experienced spinners. Seamers still applied themselves. Lot of learning curves for a lot of guys. Team management have worked really hard, it's a massive squad effort. Experience plays a massive part, I have been fortunate to experience that in the sub-continent where they declare and you bat in the dark. A lot of things react differently. Fortunately we were in a position of batting first. I'd have liked our batters apply themselves a little bit better especially after lunch yesterday. Knowing that the light was touch-and-go forces you to bowl the spinners and that worked out well for us. Extremely healthy for both guys (spinners), they are pushing each other in the nets. They are extremely competitive. Team news (for PE), I can't tell, we have a good headache with regard to selection.

Mominul Haque | Losing captain We tried to play according to the merit of the ball. We wanted to play till the final session. Unfortunately we lost three wickets last night, that was crucial. We are used to playing spin. We also know that Durban spins from 3rd-4th day, we didn't capitalise well with the bat. We played a lot of loose shots. First innings, we did well. The bowlers bowled really well in both innings. In the last couple of Test matches, our pace bowling department has been doing well ... in NZ and also in the ODI series here. We conceded 50-60 runs extra in the second innings. We have one more match, we have to come back strongly. We'll try to capitalise on our opportunities. It'll be a good opportunity for the new guys to show their talent.

Stats
53 - Bangladesh's second lowest ever score in Tests
53 - Lowest ever Test score by a team at the Kingsmead, Durban. Previous: 66 by India in 1996-97

10:58 Local Time, 08:58 GMT, 14:28 IST: Keshav Maharaj finishes with 10-0-32-7! Outstanding bowling figures, he points heavenwards and his father in the stands is pumped up. The left-arm spinner leads his team off the field and raises the ball as he walks back. South Africa took less than an hour to wrap up the match today. Having lost three wickets in six overs yesterday, a fight was expected from Bangladesh's middle-order. Alas, that wasn't the case. Maharaj, with his accuracy bowling, picked three wickets in three overs to bag a fifer. His spin-twin, Harmer, removed the next two wickets by deceiving the batters with his flight. And, then Maharaj capped off the match by adding two more to his tally. South Africa used just two bowlers (spinners) in the innings to pick the 10 wickets. Dreadful batting display from the Bangladeshi batters - they lasted just 19 overs and only two of their batters managed to get into double-digits. Stick around for the presentations...

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, out Caught by Mulder!! Edged and gone! South Africa win by 220 runs! Flat delivery on a length from round the wicket, Taskin Ahmed stays back to defend and gets opened up. The ball catches the outside edge, brushes the pad and goes into the hands of Mulder at first slip. Taskin Ahmed c Mulder b Maharaj 14(17) [6s-1]

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Game over!

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, no run, away-drifter, Taskin Ahmed with a giant stride drops it in front of silly point

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, no run, round the wicket, full delivery, defended back at the bowler

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, 2 runs, flighted ball, slightly overpitched and Taskin Ahmed drives through point

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, no run, in-turner, Taskin Ahmed gets forward and watchfully defends

Maharaj to Taskin Ahmed, no run, 81kph, fullish delivery, pushed back at the bowler

Harmer to Ebadot Hossain, no run, moves across and defends this full ball down the pitch

Harmer to Ebadot Hossain, no run, fullish delivery, Ebadot Hossain pushes to the bowler's left

Harmer to Ebadot Hossain, no run, full delivery, blocked back at the bowler

Harmer to Ebadot Hossain, no run, quicker one, Ebadot Hossain brings his bat down in time to block it out

Harmer to Ebadot Hossain, no run, another flighted offie outside off, pushed with an opened bat-face towards backward point