The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agency

Bangladesh 153 (Rahim 48, Ntini 3-20) and 20 for 1 (Iqbal 5*, Siddique 7*) trail South Africa 441 for 9 dec (Smith 157, Amla 112, Prince 59*, Shakib 5-130) by 268 runs.

At a time when Test cricket is fighting to maintain its credibility and relevance it needs some cracking matches to maintain interest. Brisbane may yet provide a tonic, Bloemfontein certainly won't. Bangladesh, after improving with the ball, were predictably blown away for 153 by South Africa's pace attack and are already one down in the follow-on after debutant Imrul Kayes fell for the second time in the day.

What makes Bangla-desh's collapse an even greater pity is that for half the day they'd fought back impressively to reduce South Africa from 327 for 1 to 441. Shakib-Al-Hasan, who claimed 7 for 36 against New Zealand last month, took another five-wicket haul to work through the lower order but, as against New Zealand, Bangladesh's resurgence was an illusion and this time the false impression was even greater.

Bangladesh may seem a minor player in cricket's bigger picture, but the reality is that they have played a significant number of Tests. Even taking into account the exodus to the Indian Cricket League and a young team it doesn't excuse repeated failings. Some players, such as Mohammad Ashraful, should know better than driving at wide half volleys but don't seem to learn from their previous mistakes. When it comes to describing a Bangladesh batting collapse nothing much has changed - they can't play pace, don't like bounce and have poor shot selection. A scoring rate of four-an-over is pointless if a side is all out in under 37 overs.