Sports Desk

South Africa made a solid start to the second and final Test by reaching 109-1 at lunch on Day 1 against Bangladesh at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram today.

Opener Tony de Zorzi neared his third half-century by batting on 49 with Tristan Stubbs on 23 at the first interval of the day.

Zorzi hit four fours and one six in 71 balls, summing up South Africa's strategy to play attacking cricket to leave Bangladesh in a disarray state.

Zorzi and Captain Aiden Markram set the tone by putting on 69 runs after South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first.

Both of them batted rapidly in an otherwise a good batting track to score at a run rate of nearly four until left-arm spinner Taijul intervened.

Taijul broke through with the wicket of Markram wo chipped a tossed-up delivery straight to mid-on after scoring 33 off 52 with two fours.

Taijul who took eight wickets in the first Test that Bangladesh lost by seven wickets was largely ineffective as Zorzi attacked him as a strategy to put pressure on the hosts bowling line up.

Stubbs was also similarly comfortable in his stay in the crease and helped South Africa see off the session without any trouble.

Earlier, South Africa made two changes, with allrounder Senuran Muthusamy and pacer Dane Paterson replacing Dane Piedt and Matthew Breetzke.

Bangladesh handed Mahidul Islam Ankon a debut and made three changes overall.

Ankon replaced Jaker Ali, who was ruled out after sustaining a concussion during a practice session. Wicketkeeper Liton Das and offspinner Nayeem Hasan were dropped to make way for batter Zakir Hasan and pace bowler Nahid Rana.